Father shot 10-year-old twins in Canoga Park murder-suicide, police say

A man in his late 30s shot and killed his 10-year-old twin sons before turning the gun on himself in a Canoga Park apartment Sunday evening, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. The incident marks the second murder-suicide involving a family in the San Fernando Valley in less than two weeks.

Police responded to a call at 7:15 p.m. Sunday at an apartment in the 8000 block of Owensmouth Avenue.

Inside a bedroom, officers found the two boys and a 37-year-old man deceased from apparent gunshot wounds. The boys were identified Monday as 10-year-old brothers.

The man is believed to be their father, and his identity is being withheld pending notification of next of kin, said LAPD Capt. Bland.

A handgun was recovered at the scene and will undergo forensic analysis, along with DNA and other evidence. All three victims were shot in the head, according to LAPD radio calls.

Detectives from the Robbery-Homicide Division are leading the investigation.

“It’s a horrible, tragic situation on the heels of the other one just over a week ago,” Bland said, referring to the May 27 murder-suicide in North Hills where a mother killed her husband and two young children before taking her own life.

In Canoga Park, family, friends, and residents gathered outside the apartment complex Sunday night. One woman was seen collapsing in tears after exiting an ambulance, according to KTLA News.

Local resident CC Pelkey told the station, “The kids never had a chance to have a life, and I don’t know why the father, if he did have issues, couldn’t have gotten help. To take his children’s lives and his own life.

It’s just, there are no words right now.”

If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, seek help from a professional or call 988, the nationwide three-digit mental health crisis hotline.