SYLMAR (CNS) — A Sylmar man apparently shot and killed his wife and then fatally shot himself, authorities said Wednesday, Jan. 18.
Officers were sent about 4:50 p.m. on Jan. 16 to a home in the 13600 block of Gavina Avenue after someone reported that a homicide had just occurred there, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Police were unable to make contact with the person who called authorities or anyone else inside the home, which was then surrounded.
A SWAT team was called to the scene and some neighboring homes were evacuated while other residents were kept from entering the area. The SWAT team entered the home about 9 p.m. and found the man and woman, said Officer Mike Lopez of the LAPD’s Media Relations Section.
They were identified by the coroner’s office as 84-year-old Rubin Witterman and 69-year-old Mercedes Witterman. The man apparently shot and killed his wife and then fatally shot himself, said coroner’s Chief Brian Elias.