Larry Gordon, Times Staff Writer
Los Angeles Times
Copyright 2006 Los Angeles Times
All Rights Reserved
A man believed to have fatally stabbed his father and 10-year-old brother and who shot a Downey police officer Friday also assaulted his former girlfriend and her parents during his late-afternoon rampage, police said.
Los Angeles County sheriff’s detectives said Saturday that Cesar Iniquez, 24, who had a history of mental illness, killed his relatives, then headed for an apartment in the 9200 block of Washburn Road in Downey to confront a woman he had briefly dated two years ago, Sheriff’s Deputy Dana Camarillo said.
Iniquez broke the woman’s wrist, shot and wounded her stepfather and hit her mother in the face with a shotgun. The three, whose names were not released, escaped before Iniquez shot the police officer and barricaded himself in an apartment. About five hours later, police found Iniquez dead of a self-inflicted wound, Camarillo said.
The young woman had dated Iniquez only a couple of months but “it came back to haunt her,” Camarillo said.
Police said the gunman had been treated for a mental disorder, but they had no details.
Iniquez’s sister had returned to the family home in South Gate shortly after the slayings and, unaware of what had happened, argued with her brother, police said. Iniquez tried to take her hostage but she escaped, and he fled in his father’s vehicle. Police responding to a report of the siblings’ dispute then discovered the bodies of the 50-year-old man and the boy.
On his way to Downey, Iniquez hit another vehicle on the Long Beach Freeway but didn’t stop, police said. No one was injured in that crash.
The Downey officer was reported to be in stable condition Saturday at a local hospital. The condition of the young woman’s stepfather was not available.
June 18, 2006