A man killed his 5-year-old daughter and then himself inside a West Long Beach home where he’d barricaded himself after a domestic dispute Thursday evening, according to police.
Police said the situation began just after 3 p.m. when the man’s wife arrived at the Long Beach Police Department’s West Patrol Station to report a case of domestic violence, prompting officers to respond to a home in the 3400 block of Adriatic Avenue.
When they arrived, the officers saw smoke and fire coming from inside the home, and they heard a noise inside that sounded like gunfire, police said.
While firefighters worked to extinguish the flames, officers entered the home, believing there was a child inside, police said. Once inside, they found a 5-year-old girl with a gunshot wound, police said. She was pronounced dead at the scene, they added.
“We are all devastated by the murder of a 5-year-old child. This is a heartbreaking act of domestic violence that should not have happened,” said Long Beach Police Chief Wally Hebeish. “An innocent child has had her life cut short and no words can replace the wonder and promise taken away from her. We join our entire community in mourning the loss of this precious life, and offer our deepest condolences to her mother, family, and friends during this time.”
With the gunman still potentially inside the home, the LBPD activated its SWAT team and established a perimeter around the area.
SWAT officers tried to negotiate with the man to get him to come outside, but after roughly seven hours, officers obtained a warrant to enter the home and found the man with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said, adding that they recovered two guns at the scene.
Detectives are investigating the crime as a murder-suicide.
They identified the gunman as 39-year-old Chase Phillip Powell.