Original Blog Entry: Police: Seven Bodies Found In Home

NBey6 — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 20:49:57 GMT

Seven bodies found in home, police say

Story Highlights NEW: Police believe man killed five children and their mother, then took own life NEW: Five dead children included two sets of twins -- one set age 5, the other age 2 NEW: There is no current threat to the community, police say Slayings occur in home in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Wilmington

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- The bodies of five children and two adults were found Tuesday in a home in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Wilmington, and authorities are investigating the case as a murder-suicide, police told CNN.

Among the dead were an 8-year-old girl and two sets of twins -- 5-year-old girls and 2-year-old boys, authorities said.

There is no reason to believe this is anything other than a murder-suicide, Lt. John Romero told CNN. There is no current threat to the community, no active search for a suspect.

The children's father is believed to have killed the children and their mother before calling 9-1-1 and contacting a local television station, KABC, by fax. He told dispatchers he found his family dead but told the station he had killed them, said Deputy Police Chief Kenneth Garner.

In the faxed note to KABC, the man said he was despondent over an employment situation, police said.

The fax is signed Ervin Anthony Lapoe, police confirmed. But the coroner's office has not yet identified the male body found in the home.

A note was also found in the home, Garner said. He would not divulge details but said it could be described as a suicide note.

Authorities said at an afternoon briefing that a community meeting would be held Tuesday afternoon at a local church.

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