Man, Woman And Child Dead In Apparent Murder-Suicide In Ceres

CERES (CBS13) - Two adults and a 12-year-old child were reportedly shot to death at a Ceres residence early Monday in what police are calling a murder-suicide.

At 2:13 a.m., officers were alerted to the report of three people who appeared to be dead at home in the 2700 block of Roeding Road. When officers arrived at the residence, they found two adults and one juvenile with gunshot wounds. All three were pronounced dead at the scene, according to a Ceres Police Department statement. Police also told CBS13 that the juvenile was a 12-year-old boy.

The department and neighbors told CBS13 it happened at an apartment complex on Roeding Road. Based on their preliminary investigation, police believe the man shot the woman and the child, then shot himself.

"When you're coming by here and you look up there, it's sad to like…what really happened up there," Alicia Noble, a downstairs neighbor, said. "You know, what made him snap? You know what I mean? But it's really sad."

The identity of those involved and their relationship to each other is being withheld pending notification of next-of-kin.

Neighbors told CBS13 that the three were a family and that they were quiet and kept to themselves.

"I've never heard them fight. Never heard nothing. The guy was actually a really nice guy," Noble said. "One time my mom left her keys in the door and he knocked on the door saying, 'Hey you left your keys in the door.' But, you just don't hear like that in these apartments."

The investigation into the shooting is ongoing. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact Ceres police Detective Matthew Berlier at (209) 538-5616.