Grandmother, 4 Children Shot And Killed In Lancaster Home; Father Germarcus David Arrested
LANCASTER (CBSLA) – A man has been arrested on murder charges in the shooting deaths of his four children and their grandmother Sunday night at a home in Lancaster.
"What do you get out killing somebody, especially your own kids?" said neighbor James Martin. "That just breaks my heart — I can't even believe it. I woke up to this."
The shooting was reported just before 10:30 p.m. at a home in the 3500 Block of Garnet Lane.
Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies were dispatched to a "rescue responding" call to find a woman in her 50s and four children -- three boys and a girl all under the age of 12 -- dead at the scene from gunshot wounds. One of the children was an infant.
Their names were not immediately released. Neighbors told CBSLA they heard what sounded like the mother of the children screaming in the street after the bodies were found.
A man, believed to be the father of the children and the son-in-law of the deceased woman, was detained at the Lancaster Sheriff's Station and interviewed by detectives. He was later taken into custody on murder charges. He was identified as 29-year-old Germarcus David. According to friends of the grandmother, she worked at the California State Prison in Lancaster as a correctional officer.
According to neighbor Grace Beltran, the mother of the children could be heard screaming and crying when she discovered the scene.
"That was the thing that I heard," said Beltran. "The girl was screaming, 'My babies are gone. They're all dead. My babies are gone. She kept repeating it."
The circumstances of the shooting and a possible motive were still unclear. David is being held on $2 million bail.
"Unfortunately, no community is exempt from this type of behavior and it's nothing you can prepare for," said neighbor Donnel Murray.