Anthony Alvarez, Calif. man, fatally shoots adult daughter and himself with 3 young grandkids in home, police say

(CBS/AP) OROSI, Calif. - Anthony Alvarez, a central California man, shot his two adult daughters on Monday, killing one and critically injuring the other, before apparently committing suicide while his three young grandchildren were in the family's home, authorities said.

An 8-year-old girl called to report gunfire before dawn, and deputies arrived to find the 63-year-old Alvarez dead from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the Tulare County Sheriff's Department said in a statement.

Jennifer Kimble, 37, was found dead from multiple gunshot wounds. She was the daughter of Alvarez and the mother of three children in the home -- two boys ages 13 and 11, and the 8-year-old girl.

Kimble's sister Valerie Alvarez, 33, had at least one gunshot wound and was flown to a Fresno hospital in critical condition. She was stabilized and having surgery, sheriff's spokeswoman Sgt. Chris Douglass said.

The investigation was continuing and autopsies were planned later in the week.

Douglass said investigators did not doubt that Anthony Alvarez had shot his daughters and turned the gun on himself.

"It's a very cut-and-dried case," she said.

No information was released on a possible motive.

The grandchildren were unharmed and reunited with their father, who was at work during the shootings, authorities said.

The shootings occurred on a residential street of small stucco homes in Orosi, a town of about 9,000 people in California's Central Valley about 20 miles southeast of Fresno.

Kimble worked in the cafeteria of an elementary school one street from the house and was a dedicated, caring employee, according to her supervisor there.

"I'm just as surprised as anyone else right now," Brenda Lightfoot-Handy, director of food services at Palm Elementary, told the Fresno Bee. "I'm just trying to process this."