More details have emerged in a shooting that left three dead inside a Lakewood home on Thursday, with authorities saying a man killed his wife and 17-year-old daughter before turning the gun on himself.
Deputies responded to the 5800 block of Lorelei Avenue around 8 a.m. Thursday after receiving a call about an assault with a deadly weapon, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. The caller said her father had shot at her and was lying near her on the floor unconscious.
When deputies arrived, they spoke with the 19-year-old woman, who said her father had shot at her. The woman, who was unharmed, was then taken to the Lakewood sheriff’s station.
After deputies entered the home, they found a man lying on the floor with a gunshot wound to his upper torso. Authorities identified him as Hector Lionel Alfaro, 52.
Soon afterward, deputies located a 48-year-old woman, later identified as Alfaro’s wife, in a bedroom with gunshot wounds to her torso. In another bedroom, they found the 17-year-old, Alfaro’s youngest daughter, with a gunshot wound to her upper torso.
Alfaro, his wife and youngest daughter were pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities have not given a motive for the crime.
The 19-year-old woman, identified by authorities as Alfaro’s older daughter, told investigators she woke up to the sound of gunshots. She said her father then appeared near her armed with a handgun and shot at her several times, but the bullets did not strike her.
Alfaro then shot himself while standing near his eldest daughter, according to the Sheriff’s Department.
In a news conference after the shooting, Lt. Daniel Vizcarra, of the L.A. County Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau, said the 19-year-old was “extremely distraught” as she ran out of the house.
In a statement to CBS L.A., a young woman who described herself as the eldest of the slain woman’s three daughters said her mother was “the most incredible woman I know.” She told the outlet that her mother and two sisters were “my entire world.”
Two firearms were found at the scene, and the investigation is ongoing.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500.
