Five dead as man kills three children and himself in California church

SACRAMENTO: A father shot and killed his three children, all under age 15, and then himself on Monday at a church near the California capital of Sacramento, police said.

A fifth person was also found dead at the scene, a spokesman for the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department told reporters.

Video images from the scene showed a heavy police presence outside the church in the Arden-Arcade area outside the city limits.

The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department issued a warning to the public to avoid the area because of the large police presence and said it was establishing a command post in the area.

“There was apparently a church worker upstairs in this building. They heard a shot and then more shots,” Sergeant Rod Grassmann said, describing the shooter as an adult male “who has shot and killed his three children, that are under the age of 15.”

Grassmann said he was unaware of the fifth victims was related to the family.