At least two people were dead and one person was critically injured after an apparent murder-suicide that prompted police to swarm a Valley Village apartment complex on Monday.
Authorities were sent to the 12400 block of Weddington Street (map) after the call came in reporting a shooting at about 10:30 a.m., according to Officer Rosario Herrera of the Los Angeles Police Department.
Police on scene described a “domestic” murder-suicide that left two people dead: a male “suspect” with a self-inflicted gunshot and a woman.
A third person, a woman, was critically injured with a gunshot wound, police in Valley Village said.
A man who was about 70 used an ax to attack his wife and then shot a woman who responded to her screams and came to help, a neighbor said.
“My daughter said he had an ax, that her whole head was cracked open,” said Anita Maxwell, the mother of a neighbor who went inside the home with the female resident who got shot.
Three officers could be seen carrying what appeared to be a woman’s body out of the complex and into a carport area just after 11 a.m. The woman was placed on a gurney and into an ambulance.
About 20 minutes later, a second gurney was brought into the complex after police appeared to launch some sort of smoke-emitting device into an apartment, video from Sky5 showed.
A white dog ran outside of one unit after an officer entered. A team of officers then stormed into another nearby unit.
The man and the woman neighbors described as his wife were found dead inside the home, according to detectives on scene. The man had shot himself, police said.
The wife was in her 30s, according to neighbors. Police have not described the relationship between the two dead individuals.
A police officer was injured during the response but was expected to be OK.
The complex is named Weddington Square, aerial video showed.
KTLA’s Melissa Pamer and Steve Kuzj contributed to this article.