A Southern California neighborhood was left reeling after a father shot his 10-year-old twin sons inside their Canoga Park home on Saturday, June 7, 2026, then fired at their mother before killing himself, police said.
The unidentified man, believed to be in his mid-40s, opened fire around 7:15 p.m. inside a bedroom of the family’s home, which sits directly across the street from Lanark Park, a family-friendly green space about 25 minutes outside Los Angeles. By the time the gunfire stopped, three members of the same family were dead.
The boys’ mother, who has not been named, told investigators she heard two shots ring out from inside the house and rushed toward the bedroom to see what had happened, according to reporting on the incident. When she reached the room, the man turned the gun on her and fired, but the shot missed. He then pointed the weapon at his own head and pulled the trigger.
A Quiet Block Turned Crime Scene
The Los Angeles Police Department is treating the deaths as a murder-suicide and has identified the father as the suspected gunman. Officers spent hours combing the property Saturday night and into Sunday, June 8, collecting evidence from inside the home and across the surrounding yard.
Authorities have not released the names of the father, the twin boys or their mother. The shooting unfolded during what relatives described as a family gathering, deepening the shock for those who had come together only hours before the gunfire.
Outside the home, the grief was raw. A devastated woman was filmed crying uncontrollably as a man wrapped his arms around her and tried to steady her on the sidewalk. She has not been identified. Other relatives and friends stood nearby in silence, some staring at the front of the house, others looking down at the pavement, trying to absorb what had happened inside.
Neighbors and Strangers Gather to Grieve
The scene drew a steady stream of people throughout the evening. Many of those who came knew the family personally — parents of the twins’ friends, neighbors who had watched the boys grow up across from Lanark Park, relatives who had been at earlier gatherings in that same house. Others were complete strangers, drawn by news of the shooting and a need to pay their respects on a block they had never walked before.
“That’s just really sad, two little kids and a dad. That’s a family. Nobody deserved that,” a witness at the scene said.
The park across the street, normally filled on summer evenings with children on the playground and families spreading out blankets, became an informal vantage point for the crowd that gathered as detectives worked the scene. Investigators in plain clothes moved in and out of the front door late into the night.
A Mother Left Behind
Police have not said whether the mother required medical attention after the shot fired at her missed, nor have they detailed any prior history of domestic disturbances at the address. The LAPD has also not disclosed whether the gun used in the shooting was legally owned or how long the family had lived at the home.
What investigators do know is that the mother is the only member of the immediate family to survive. She is the one who called for help. She is the one who, by her own account to police, walked toward the bedroom not knowing what she was about to find, and instead became the target of her husband’s final shot before he killed himself.
Those who came to the home on Sunday spoke about the boys in the present tense, then corrected themselves. Several said they did not know the family but felt compelled to come anyway.
“I felt like, even though we might not see their family, we thought that they needed some prayer and some thought, because like, I don’t know, I know me personally, whether I know them or not, I would want to pray for someone’s healing and just overall as a person, because that’s really sad and I don’t wish that upon anybody,” a neighbor said.
Investigation Continues
The LAPD said its investigation remains active and that detectives are continuing to interview family members and witnesses. No motive has been released, and police have not said whether the father left behind any note or communication that might explain why he turned a weapon on his own children.
For now, the focus on the block remains on the family that was — a father, a mother and two 10-year-old brothers who lived in a house across from a park where, on most other Saturday evenings, the only sounds were children playing.