Father held after 4 children, grandmother slain
LANCASTER — Four children, including an infant, and their grandmother were found shot to death in a Southern California home and the children’s father was arrested on suspicion of killing them, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
The victims were found Sunday night in a home in Lancaster.
The children’s mother discovered the bodies and called 911, Lt. Brandon Dean told The Associated Press in a phone interview.
Three houses away, Grace Beltran and her son Gerard were awakened by first responders’ flashing lights. Grace Beltran said a woman was running back and forth in their front yard, screaming, “My babies are gone! They’re all dead!”
Within a few minutes of the mother arriving home, the children’s father, Germarcus
David, 29, turned himself in to deputies at the Lancaster sheriff’s station, Dean said.
David was arrested after being interviewed by investigators and was held in lieu of $2 million bail.
It was not immediately known if David had a lawyer who could speak on his behalf. He was expected to make an initial appearance at the Antelope Valley Courthouse on today.
The grandmother, a girl and three boys suffered gunshot wounds to the upper torso and paramedics pronounced all of the victims dead at the scene. Authorities did not identify them but Waki Jones, who worked with the family through his Lancaster daycare service, told the Los Angeles Times that the two eldest children were Amaya, 12, and Demarcus, 9.
The grandmother did not live with the family but had been babysitting, Dean said.