3 killed in double-murder, suicide at senior center

TORRANCE, Calif. Three people have died in what appears to be a double murder-suicide at a senior citizens' high-rise in Torrance, police said.

A man in his 80s is believed to have fatally shot two women before turning the gun on himself in the lobby of the Golden West Tower apartments, according to Sgt. Robert Watt.

The shooting occurred shortly after noon Tuesday.

Watt says the victims haven't been identified and the motive is unknown. Police said they are investigating the relationship between the shooter and an unidentified woman.

"Still sketchy as to what this relationship was, was there a relationship? We don't know that yet," Watt said, according to CBS Los Angeles affiliate KCAL-TV.

Residents and staff from the senior center told NBC4 that the shooter had been behaving erratically, and many of them were seeking to have him kicked out of the complex.

"People knew that he was a little bit off," Golden Tower employee Alex Galindo told the TV station. "People were warned but nobody did anything, so I know there's going to be blood on a lot of people's hands. That's all I can say at this point."

Witnesses are being interviewed, and police are trying to obtain surveillance footage, Watt said.

According to the city of Torrance's website, Golden West Towers is a 180-unit, privately owned and operated facility. The low- and moderate-income housing is for seniors who can live independently.

In a shooting last month, investigators suspect 45-year-old Colin McGrattan shot and killed his ex-wife and her two nieces at O'Connor Woods Senior Living center in Stockton, before killing himself.

In 2010, 77-year-old Arthur Baar shot and killed his wife Caryl, 72, before turning the gun on himself in Laguna Woods, the south Orange County retirement community formerly known as Leisure World.