Gunman kills self, five kin over financial woes: LA police

[Scurrilous]

Source: AFP

<snip>

"An unemployed California man shot and killed his wife, three children and mother-in-law before taking his own life over his family's financial difficulties, police said Monday.

Los Angeles Police Department deputy chief Michael Moore said the gunman, 45, shot his wife, 39, her mother, 70, and three sons aged 19, 12 and seven at their home in an upmarket suburb of Los Angeles.

The identities of the family members were not released, but Moore said the gunman was a business school graduate who had held jobs with accountancy firm Price Waterhouse and Sony Pictures before becoming unemployed.

"We believe this individual had become despondent recently over his financial dealings and the financial situation of his household, and this murder-suicide event is a direct result of that," Moore said.

A letter apparently left by the gunman attested to the family's financial difficulties, he said."

Read more: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hW1kpbUxlQPlMCXxIWFnXAn-L3sA

[LeftyMom]

1. Language quibble: People in LA have relatives. People in Needles have kin.

[Catch22Dem]

8. Not only that, but

I've never heard immediate family (spouse/children) referred to as kin anyway.

[JonLP24]

10. Really?

In life insurance forms they ask what is your next of kin? It's usually a spouse or a mother or something.

[Catch22Dem]

13. Yes, but "next of kin" is a specific "title" if you ask me

However, I wouldn't call my daughter "my kin". Actually, I wouldn't call any relative my kin. I'd call them a relative.

[louis-t]

2. LAPD Dep Chief's name is Michael Moore?

Whoa!

[Zenlitened]

3. "Hollis Brown, he lived on the outside of town..."

Ballad Of Hollis Brown

Hollis Brown
He lived on the outside of town
Hollis Brown
He lived on the outside of town
With his wife and five children
And his cabin fallin' down

You looked for work and money
And you walked a rugged mile
You looked for work and money
And you walked a rugged mile
Your children are so hungry
That they don't know how to smile

Your baby's eyes look crazy
They're a-tuggin' at your sleeve
Your baby's eyes look crazy
They're a-tuggin' at your sleeve
You walk the floor and wonder why
With every breath you breathe

The rats have got your flour
Bad blood it got your mare
The rats have got your flour
Bad blood it got your mare
If there's anyone that knows
Is there anyone that cares?

You prayed to the Lord above
Oh please send you a friend
You prayed to the Lord above
Oh please send you a friend
Your empty pockets tell yuh
That you ain't a-got no friend

Your babies are crying louder
It's pounding on your brain
Your babies are crying louder
It's pounding on your brain
Your wife's screams are stabbin' you
Like the dirty drivin' rain

Your grass it is turning black
There's no water in your well
Your grass is turning black
There's no water in your well
You spent your last lone dollar
On seven shotgun shells

Way out in the wilderness
A cold coyote calls
Way out in the wilderness
A cold coyote calls
Your eyes fix on the shotgun
That's hangin' on the wall

Your brain is a-bleedin'
And your legs can't seem to stand
Your brain is a-bleedin'
And your legs can't seem to stand
Your eyes fix on the shotgun
That you're holdin' in your hand

There's seven breezes a-blowin'
All around the cabin door
There's seven breezes a-blowin'
All around the cabin door
Seven shots ring out
Like the ocean's pounding roar

There's seven people dead
On a South Dakota farm
There's seven people dead
On a South Dakota farm
Somewhere in the distance
There's seven new people born

Link:
http://www.bobdylan.com/#/songs/ballad-hollis-brown

[SemperEadem]

4. tragedy

California is one of the worst-hit states in the US home foreclosure crisis, but police said the gunman was not the owner of the home, located in a gated community of Porter Ranch in the San Fernando Valley.

[Faygo Kid]

5. Awful. No excuse for killing wife, mother, sons.

[Vogon_Glory]

6. We're Going To See More Of This

We're going to see more of this, alas. As more and more people lose their jobs through layoffs, outsourcing, business failures, and for other reasons, we are going to see more murder-suicides of this sort. The problem with our culture is that we often treat the breadwinners as failures; G*d knows we do that to the poor as well. Also, in a culture where unemployment and business failures are seen as part of how we see people as a whole, a lot of downwardly-mobile memebers of the middle and working classes are going to be staring into their personal abysses without the emotional and spiritual resources to keep going in the face of extreme adversity.

Say what you will, but sometimes religious organizations can and do provide spiritual solace and sustenance, even when their leaderships' political positions are utterly reactionary. Certainly the mindset of the consumer culture can't provide those comforts.

[angstlessk]

7. so we give 700 billion so the rich do not jump out of buildings so that

the poor can kill each other and themselves???

[cosmicone]

9. The second amendment at work ... again. n/t

[silverojo]

16. Without a gun, he would've used a knife

That would have made their deaths even more agonizing and drawn-out.

If someone's going to take a life, they'll find a way to do it. Take away the gun, and they'll find a more barbaric method. No need to disarm honest people over such things.

Cars kill a lot of people, too--depending on the crime, they can be classified as a lethal weapong--but I don't hear any calls to ban cars to stop automobile-related deaths....

[tburnsten]

56. Way to inject your ideology

into a terrible event like this. You should be ashamed.

[geckosfeet]

11. IMO he turned his guns on the wrong people.

[antigone382]

50. I understand your sentiment and share it in part...

But in the absence of certain answers I can only assume that a person desperate or unstable enough to take the lives of five other people and himself is probably not in full possession of reason. I don't know how this man came to the decision to kill his family and himself. It is possible he was motivated by a self-centered myopia and fully deserves our disgust and scorn. However, I've been on the brink of suicide before, and while my harmful intentions never extended towards anyone but myself, I understand firsthand how something blatantly illogical and awful can appear to be both logical and moral to a mind in the throes of extreme duress. It's the same compassion I extend towards a person like Andrea Yates.

[downindixie]

12. What a sorry self centered

son-of-a-bitch.The most dispicable human.

[Wednesdays]

14. Who (like the rest of us) has wrapped his entire self-worth

around his possessions. Messed-up priorities, that's what it is. "Things" are replaceable and limited in value, people are not.

[WriteDown]

17. My guess is a new legal immigrant....

Possibly Asian or Middle Eastern. This sounds like an honor thing.

[Scurrilous]

46. Father kills family and himself, despondent over financial losses

<snip>

"Karthik Rajaram had fallen hard.

The 45-year-old Porter Ranch financial manager who once made more than $1.2 million in a London-based venture fund had lost his job. His luck playing the stock market ran out.

On Sept. 16, he bought a gun. He wrote two suicide notes and a last will and testament. And then, sometime between Saturday night and Monday morning, he killed his wife, mother-in-law and three sons, and took his own life.

"This is a perfect American family behind me that has absolutely been destroyed, apparently because of a man who just got stuck in a rabbit hole, if you will, of absolute despair, somehow working his way into believing this to be an acceptable exit," said LAPD Deputy Chief Michel Moore. "It is critical to step up and recognize we are in some pretty troubled times."

In a letter addressed to police, Rajaram blamed his actions on economic hardships. A second letter, labeled "personal and confidential," was addressed to family friends; the third contained a last will and testament, Moore said.

The letter to police voiced two options: taking his own life, or killing himself and his entire family. "He talked himself into the second strategy," Moore said. "That that would be the honorable thing to do."

more

[WriteDown]

47. Wow, apparently.....

I rock :).

[slackmaster]

51. Yes, you do rock - See reply #49 below

Indian. Good call.

[progressivebydesign]

15. Selfish and cruel. WHy don't these men just kill themselves and let their families live?

People seem to have no idea that their family would do just fine, and would recover, should he kill only himself.

[0rganism]

18. the problem with murder-suicides is they always happen in the wrong order

I wish these idiots would figure out that they need to do the suicide part first. But it's always too late. :(

[Dover]

19. (Family of) Six found dead in Porter Ranch home - despondent over finances

Source: LATimes

An unemployed financial advisor apparently despondent over his troubles shot and killed his wife, his mother-in-law and three children before taking his own life in a gated community in the northwest San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles police said today.

Officers responding to a call from concerned friends found the bodies about 8:30 a.m. in a two-story house in the 20600 block of Como Lane in Porter Ranch, said LAPD Deputy Chief Michael Moore. The identities of the victims were not immediately released.

"We believe this to be a murder-suicide," Moore said. "It appears killed his family and then took his own life."

The 45-year-old suspect used a handgun he purchased Sept. 16, Moore said. The weapon was found next to the gunman's body, officials said.

The bodies of the man's 39-year-old wife, 70-year-old mother-in-law, and three sons -- ages 19, 12 and 7 -- were found inside the home's various bedrooms. Authorities had earlier said that one of the victims was the gunman's mother but now say it was his mother-in-law...>


Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-porterranch7-2008oct07,0,7425239.story

[AirmensMom]

20. Oh, no!

:cry:

So sad.

[deutsey]

21. Horrible...just horrible. n/t

[grannylib]

22. Oh dear God...how very sad.

Deregulators like McAnus surely have blood on their hands.

[bitchkitty]

23. What an arrogant bastard.

Assuming he couldn't go on - I can understand that. Taking his family with him, including his 7-year old precious child, earns him a place in hell, if there is a hell...

[polly7]

24. That's so terrible.

[garlicmilkshake]

25. Heartbreaking. There's something especially sad and poignant about an unemployed financial advisor.

:cry:

[slackmaster]

27. It's not quite as sad and poignant as a divorced marriage counselor

:argh:

[Alcibiades]

26. Real life as a metaphor for real life

A depressed financial adviser wiping out three generations of his own family in his house in his gated community. And he bought a gun several week ago, probably for the express purpose of doing this. These family eradicators are obviously sick. You can get another job, another house, etc: no one can bring your family back.

[paparush]

28. More blood on Bush's hands.

Yeah, I said it.

That sneering, sniveling rat bastard is going to pack up his millions and head to Paraguay, while people here are thrown to the wolves.

[Pavulon]

30. That fuck

could have blown his brains out and left his family alone, maybe even to collect his insurance.

"family destroyers" are not victims.

[paparush]

31. Pav..I agree with you there...one bullet was enough.

[HillbillyBob]

32. The sniveling rat bastards (cheney et al) will be absconding with our tax $

nt

[paparush]

33. Yes..Cheney to become an Arab-American when he moves to Dubai.

[sam sarrha]

29. the Ballad of Hollis Brown.......

:cry:

[KoKo]

34. Shame for his family and rage at himself:

"This is a perfect American family behind me that has absolutely been destroyed," he said. "It is critical for us to step up and recognize we are in some pretty troubled times."

Ramasesham was found in a downstairs bedroom, Moore said. The 19-year-old victim, whom police identified as Krishna Rajaram, was found in the master bedroom and his mother in another upstairs bedroom.

[Iwillnevergiveup]

35. Then there was the story

of the 90 year-old woman in Ohio who shot herself in the chest because of mortgage problems.

Porter Ranch has been especially hard hit by foreclosures in SoCal - but I don't want to see any more desperate moves like this. To those who think one bullet was enough, if you're even thinking about suicide, you're not in your right mind. I feel as badly for the husband/father as I do his family.

[NeoConsSuck]

36. People expecting the American dream

when in reality, they're going through a NeoCon nightmare.

[downindixie]

37. Funny,I commented on this earlier,but my comment is gone!

[minfellman]

38. what have they wrought?

Last weekend a father, his fourteen year old son and his fathers friend were found dead a block from my church from carbon monoxide poisoning. He tried running a gas generator in his house after his electricity was cut off. They were being evicted and had no where to go. People under stress make bad decisions. Every time i here one of these criminals yell class warfare I'm tempted to show these cowards who run this country while hiding behind the armor of the police and military what warfare is really like. In perspective though most poor people deal with adversity better than this financial adviser did, because we're used to it.

[Trillo]

39. How terrible.

It just goes to show that one's picture perfect yard, with the street secured from the general public, is no measure of what really matters. It is only a surface appearance, and in this particular case, was a deceptive mask to the desperate troubles within.

[Ilsa]

40. I guess Bush, Cheney, Palin, and McCain see this as a "problem solved".

I'm surprised they don't issue handguns to everyone not wealthy enough for one of their special tinkle-down tax cuts.

[Blue_Tires]

41. sadly, we may be seeing more of these in the near future

[lonestarnot]

42. Oh man. They could have shared my tent!

[olddad56]

43. sadly, I think we will begin to see a lot more of this.

especailly among lower tier employees in the financial sector. 'Finanical planners' who are in reality mutual fund sales people. Many living way beyond their means.

[xchrom]

44. recommend

[defendandprotect]

45. Bush .. torturing the world -- insanity brreds insanity ---

[superconnected]

48. I don't care what his financial woes were, he's still a murderer. Money is not an excuse to kill

people.

[slackmaster]

49. Another perspective on the story from the Times of India

Death of the American Dream: Indian kills family of five, self in LA

...The family appears to have been well-off at one time. According to the Los Angeles Times, they sold their home in Northridge in 2006 for $750,000, making a sizeable profit on a home they purchased in 1997 for $274,000. They had also taken out two loans for $241,400.

Rajaram once made more than $1.2 million in a London-based venture fund before he ran out of luck playing the stock market, reports said. A 2001 article in The Daily Telegraph of London, under the headline ''Bust, but big bucks for the big boys,'' called Rajaram a ''winner'' in a deal for NanoUniverse, a LA- and London-based venture fund taken public on the London Stock Exchange. For a 12,500-pound investment, Rajaram, one of the company's founders, received 875,000 pounds -- or about $1.2 million in 2001 dollars -- after a voluntary liquidation, the newspaper reported.

Although the family rented their current 2800-sq foot home, they lived a typical upper class life. They had two cars, a Chevy Suburban and a Lexus SUV and they reportedly paid their rent on time....

...It wasn’t immediately clear if Rajaram’s extreme action stemmed from the ongoing economic turmoil, but even the police, unusually, referred to the troubled times. And as the story burnt the wires, the online community debated the incident heatedly.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Death_of_the_American_Dream_Indian_kills_family_self_in_LA/articleshow/3568703.cms

[WriteDown]

57. Absolutely bizarre....

Doesn't sound like this guy was anywhere close to struggling. Wonder where the 1.2 mil went.

[Chovexani]

52. Sadly, this is a sign of the times

As times get worse people will turn to more and more desperate acts...this is the tip of the iceberg, IMO.

[OakCliffDem]

53. It probably happens more than anyone would know

[catgirl]

54. Here's the AP article on this tragedy

LOS ANGELES - Mental health counselors were on the alert Tuesday for calls from people depressed or possibly suicidal about money woes, after an unemployed financial manager killed five family members and himself.

The widely publicized tragedy, which unfolded Monday after worried friends summoned police to the family's San Fernando Valley home, may spur an influx of calls to suicide prevention and crisis hot lines from people in similar financial straits, or even other suicides, said Marvin J. Southard, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health.

"One of the things we're afraid of is these things sometimes lead to a copycat phenomenon," Southard said. "This didn't come out of the blue. Everybody's been affected by the economic crisis in some way."

The department on Tuesday dispatched crisis response teams to counsel relatives, friends and neighbors of Karthik Rajaram's family, who were found shot to death Monday morning in their home in an upscale gated community in Porter Ranch.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081008/ap_on_re_us/financial_murder_suicide

[tburnsten]

55. That's horrible

If finances were so bad he had to commit suicide, why wouldn't he have just offed himself but made it appear to be an accident, leaving his family his intact life insurance plan and sparing them the pain of knowing their loved one killed himself?