A mother who killed her husband, two young children and then herself has been identified.
Marine Basmajian, 29, shot and killed her husband Khajag Basmajian, 31, their two-year-old son, and their six-day-old daughter, Alec and Ella, before shooting herself.
The incident took place at around 8pm local time on Wednesday, May 27 the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) said.
View 4 Images(Image: KNN News)
Officers rushed to the family’s £619,010 home in North Hills after gunshots were heard. It remains unclear what led to the catastrophic incident.
A neighbour expressed how devastated the community is by the shocking news.
“It’s so depressing, it’s so devastating for everyone.” Karen Banuelos told the Los Angeles Times. “To get possessed to do that? It’s just, there’s no words,” she added.
View 4 Images(Image: GoFundMe)
On a GoFundMe page that was created following the deaths Marine has been remembered as a doting mother.
The fundraiser said: “Marine was a caring mother and wife who found comfort in organisation and enjoyed gatherings among her loved ones.”
Her husband Khajaj, a Staff Cloud Platform Engineer at the financial operations software platform BlackLine, was remembered as a “devoted husband, loving father, cherished son, brother, and friend.”
View 4 Images(Image: Linkedin)
The tribute read: “To know him is to love him. With a beaming smile on his face and a positive outlook on life, he was truly a friend you could count on.”
The page continued to add that the two-year-old Alec was so excited to welcome his new baby sister.
It says: “Alec brought joy and laughter wherever he went. With his bright smile and cheerful eyes taking after his father, he loved his toy vehicles and getting a taste for life one bite at a time (ice cream was his favorite).
“Alec couldn’t wait to meet his baby sister Ella who only lived to see the world Earth side for 6 days,” the fundraiser detailed.
Banuelos recalled hearing a ‘commotion’ but didn’t hear gunfire at the time.
She added that she saw police officers arrive at the family’s home from her window, and saw a family member running out the house in tears.
She explained she found out what happened after the grandfather to the children told one of her neighbours.
Another neighbour, who wished to remain anonymous, added that they never saw the family fighting.
They detailed that they saw Khajag taking out the rubbish at around 7pm, roughly an hour before shots rang out, while she walked her dog.
Another local resident Paula Smith, said she had no idea what was happening at the time.
“We live a few blocks away and we heard all the helicopters last night. We didn’t know what was going on,” she told the local news outlet through tears.
“But to wake up this morning and to hear about this and these kids, it’s really heartbreaking. So go home and love the people you love. If someone is hurting, please reach out. Don’t be ashamed.”
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