Cops: Dad's Murder-Suicide Leaves Boy Critically Injured

ANAHEIM, Calif. (June 15) -- A 3-year-old boy is clinging to life after being shot several times, allegedly by his father, who apparently turned the gun on his wife and himself in a murder-suicide that some reports suggest could have been brought on by mortgage debt.

Though the incident occurred Sunday night, the grisly scene at the family's suburban home went undiscovered for 14 hours, as the boy cowered in a pool of blood behind a backyard trash can and his uninjured 5-year-old brother hid inside the house, police said.

"The [older] boy remained in the house hiding throughout the evening and into the morning hours," Anaheim police Sgt. Rick Martinez told AOL News. "He didn't know what to do."

After the father failed to show up for work Monday at the family's auto repair facility, a co-worker arrived at the home around 10 a.m.

"The 5-year-old answered the door and said, 'My mom and dad have been shot,' " Martinez said. "The worker was with his wife and told her to call 911."

The family's names are not being released by police because they are having difficulty locating relatives to make a death notification. The younger boy remains hospitalized in critical condition, and the older boy is in the care of social workers.

An anonymous person called 911 at 8 p.m. Sunday to report gunshots in the area, but responding patrol officers could not locate the area where it happened. The single-family home is in the vicinity of several businesses and an apartment complex.

Police theorize that the 54-year-old man shot his 39-year-old wife in the head as she sat in a chair in the backyard, fired at his 5-year-old son who stood in the doorway of their home, and then fired several shots at the younger boy, who was also in the backyard standing near a swimming pool gate, Martinez said.

The younger boy was struck in the chest, stomach and shoulder before the man shot himself in the head, Martinez said.

"I'm sure the woman never knew what was coming, she was still sitting in the chair," Martinez said.

Martinez said detectives are working on the case, "trying to determine what [the man's] true comprehension of reality was. We didn't have any previous calls that I know of relating to domestic violence."

A public records search shows a possible motive, however. The Orange County Register reported that the couple was deep in debt, borrowing against their home five times and recently taking out a $462,000 loan. They were behind in mortgage payments and faced foreclosure, and owed another $26,000 on credit cards.

KABC-TV interviewed a customer at the auto repair shop who stated the wife planned to leave her husband if he didn't stop drinking and that she feared for the safety of her children.

In the family backyard today, a beer can stood on a patio table and a dozen more were inside a plastic grocery bag leaning against a wall. A bloody stain was in the center of the patio, feet from a green plastic child's play car. Other toys were strewn about, along with old car parts and miscellaneous machinery.

Neighbor Ramon Maldonado told AOL News he wasn't aware of any problems between the couple.

"I worked for him for several years, but got laid off because business was slow," he said. "He'd pick me up every day and we'd go to work. His wife went, too, and the kids. The oldest boy didn't go to school."

Maldonado said the father "was a nice guy" and he never saw a violent temper. "I was shocked when I heard about this," he said. "I knew he had guns in the house because he told me. I didn't think anything of it -- he said the guns were there to protect his family."