Police: Three Found Dead in Palm Springs Double-Murder Suicide

By City News Service:

Stunned neighbors at a Palm Springs apartment complex were trying to cope Monday with the death of three family members found shot in what police suspect was a murder-suicide.

Officers responding to a 5:15 p.m. Sunday report of gunshot victims at the apartment in the 2700 block of East Tahquitz Canyon Way found one man and two women dead, police Lt. Mike Kovaleff said.

A 2-year-old child also was found asleep in the apartment and was uninjured, he said.

The community manager at the 160-unit Mojave Blue Apartments told City News Service the complex has a mixed group of tenants of all ages, and a couple and their child lived at the apartment where the shooting occurred, Jorge Figueroa said.

He did not know the identity of the second female victim -- who police said was also a relative -- but said the couple had moved into the apartment with the child last summer.

“We just (give) our best wishes and prayers to the family and the child as well,” Figueroa said. “We’re coping well and we’re still trying to gather information to see exactly what happened.”

Police believe the man shot and killed the two women before turning the gun on himself. Firearms were found inside the home, Kovaleff said.

The names of the dead were being withheld.

Police had not received any earlier reports of gunshots being fired, and police responded only after the bodies were found by relatives and the employer of one of those who died, Kovaleff said.

Relatives and the employer had gone to the apartment to check on their welfare after trying to reach them by telephone and at the door, according to police.

The child was taken to a hospital for a medical evaluation. The toddler is expected to be released to relatives by social services personnel, police said.

Anyone with additional information is asked to contact Palm Springs Police Department detective bureau at (760) 778-8411 or Valley Crime Stoppers at (760) 341-7867.