The body was found in the home of suspect Desmond John Moses, a 55-year-old licensed security guard and registered owner of a .38 caliber revolver, which was found at the scene.Police say Moses set his backyard bungalow on fire before spraying bullets at his neighbors.
Filimon Lamas and his wife, Gloria Jimenez, tried to protect their four young children,according to authorities. Lamas shielded three of his children by huddling over them and despite being shot in both legs and her pelvis, his wife Gloria jumped a fence and ran to safety while cradling their 4-year-old son, who had been shot in the head. Both Filimon and his 4-year-old son died.
Jimenez is in stable condition at UCLA medical center and their 7-year-old daughter, shot in the chest, was “critical but stable,” according to police. Their 6-year-old son, shot in the pelvis, was released from the hospital on Sunday. Their 8-year-old son was not hurt in the attack.
On Sunday morning, neighbors and family had created a memorial with candles on the porch outside the Lamas family home. They told police that Filimon Lamas and Gloria Jimenez had been high school sweethearts and moved into the bungalow eight years ago, next to lamas’ childhood home where his father still lives. Lamas supported his young family as part owner of Chips, a 1950s-style diner on Hawthorne Boulevard. His wife attended beauty school and did her family members’ hair.
Jimenez recently told her brother that she’d just been approved for a home loan. “She was very excited that they were qualified to buy a home,” he said to the LA Times. “She was moving on to a new chapter in her life.”
When reporters asked Jimenez’s brother about how the family will deal with this tragedy he broke into sobs, saying of his brother-in-law, “All he breathed was his family,” adding,”all he did, all he talked about, was his family.”
Authorities suspect that Moses blamed the family who lived in the front house for an eviction he received from their landlord, asking him to vacate the premises in 15 days. Moses had lived there for 17 years. He recently tried to fight his eviction in court and lost. Neighbors said Moses had not paid rent in years.
The LA Times reports that Jimenez had told her brother Jaime that Moses was “not all there.” He said Moses complained when the children played in the yard between their houses.
Moses entered the family’s home around 4 a.m. on Saturday wearing a dark cap and a white painter’s mask before firing 10 times, according to the Associated Press.
As police wait for an autopsy to officially determine if the man in the charred house is in fact Moses, neighbors and family continue to mourn at their makeshift memorial.
Neighbor Erica Gomez told the LA Times that the happy couple had only one complaint: they didn’t have enough time to spend with each other. by Alessandra Hickson [NBC]