Man Opens Fire On Family of 5, Kills 2, Sets Home On Fire

A man is still on the loose after he went on a deadly and destructive rampage in Inglewood early this morning that killed 2 and injured 3 members of the same family.

The man set fire to a duplex in Inglewood around 4 am this morning, before opening fire on a family of five, according to City News Service. The 30-year-old father was killed as he shielded his children from gunfire. A 4-year-old was also killed in the shooting. Both of them died in surgery.

Police arrived to find a mother who had been shot carrying her injured 4-year-old several blocks away, CNS reports. She is currently in critical condition at a nearby hospital. A 7-year-old girl and 5-year-old boy was shot but their medical status has not been disclosed. A 6-year-old boy was wounded in the pelvis, and a 7-year-old girl suffered a gunshot wound to the chest, according to an update from police. An 8-year-old boy was the only family member who escaped from the violence unscathed.

Police say the suspect set fire to the duplex home near 99th Street and La Brea Avenue before he opened fire. He wore a painter's mask, police told CNS.

Police have still not found the man who went on the rampage, and they were telling neighbors to stay in their homes. They believe the man may have been recently evicted from a unit on the rear of the property where the shooting occurred. He is described as a 55-year-old black man who stands about 5-foot-6.

Firefighters were not able to knock down the fire immediately, because SWAT team members were not sure if the suspect was still in the home.

UPDATE 3:50 pm Residents of a dozen homes in the 4900 block of West 99th Street are being evacuated from their homes and being moved via bus to a shelter at Crozier Middle School, the Times reports. The evacuations are not mandatory at this time.Inglewood police Lt. James Madia said: “At this time, we are pretty confident that he’s in the local area." Still, Madia says residents could expect to spend quite a while in the shelter—perhaps even several days if the search is expanded.

UPDATE 2 pm: Judy Castellanos, whose daughter was somehow related to the man killed, told the Los Angeles Times that the suspect had not paid rent for years and the new property owner wanted him out by the end of the month. Castellanos described the man as "really weird" and "dangerous," but she did not give his name.

Inglewood police chief Mark Fronterotta offered up a heartbreaking detail to the Times about the man killed: "The father was found draped over two of the children, shielding them."

We still haven't heard word that a suspect has been located. The Times reports police were searching the neighborhood—including vehicle trunks—north of Century Boulevard about a mile west of the Hollywood Park racetrack. Residents have been encouraged to stay in their homes, but the Red Cross told the Times it would offer shelter to anyone who needed to leave their home.