According to Fountain Valley Police, a 45-year-old father fatally shot his wife and his 8-year-old daughter. He then turned the gun on himself.
The suspect was allegedly waiting for his wife to come home. His wife had reportedly recently served him with divorce papers.
The wife arrived home at her parents' home on Dandelion Court in Fountain Valley. When she pulled into the driveway and got out of the vehicle with their daughter, the former couple began to argue, according to Fountain Valley Police.
Hearing the fight, family members called 911 and pulled the girl inside the house.
The man then shot the woman and then tried to force his way into the residence by kicking through the front door, said Fountain Valley Police Capt. Kevin Childe. The man shot a hole through a side window and entered the house.
The woman's mother and two male relatives ran out the front door, her father and another female relative hid in a bathroom while the man apparently shot his daughter and then himself, Childe said.
The house is near Mile Square Regional Park in Fountain Valley.
Neighbors were shocked at the scene of devastation. A young boy, Andy Franco, said he heard 12 shots ring out and another neighbor, Amanda Villa, encountered the scene as she returned home Friday evening.
"It's scary and it seems like a very nice neighborhood so you come home and see something like that and it's just scary," she said.
Authorities have not released the names of the man, woman or child.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
