Dead man found at Calif. shooting wearing armor

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Police were nearly certain Sunday that a man found dead at the property where five members of a Southern California family were shot — two fatally — was the killer because he was wearing body armor, clutching a handgun and had a bullet hole in his head.

The loaded handgun was a .38 caliber revolver registered to 55-year-old Desmond John Moses. Inglewood police say he set his bungalow ablaze before firing at his neighbors because he blamed them for an eviction notice he had received from their landlord.

The body, burned beyond recognition, was found inside the bungalow late Saturday and an autopsy will determine whether it is Moses.

The dead man had “what appeared to be a gunshot wound to the head,” wore body armor and carried additional ammunition in his pockets, a statement said.

While police couldn’t conclude that the body is that of Moses until the autopsy is concluded, “the evidence suggests this is the case,” the statement added.

The shooting rampage before dawn Saturday killed 33-year-old Filimon Lamas and his 4-year-old son. The father was shielding three of his children when he was shot, Police Chief Mark Fronterotta said. Lamas’ 28-year-old wife, Gloria Jiminez, was shot in both legs but managed to carry the wounded 4-year-old out of the house.

Paramedics found her collapsed on the street. The child, who was shot in the head, died at a hospital.

Investigators believe Moses entered the family’s home around 4 a.m. wearing a dark cap and a white painter’s mask.

Authorities said he fired 10 times. In addition to the deaths of the father and child and injury to the mother, a 7-year-old girl was wounded in the chest and a 6-year-old boy suffered a bullet wound in the pelvis. An 8-year-old boy escaped injury.

The mother and daughter remained hospitalized in stable condition, Lt. James Madia said. The 6-year-old boy was released.

Relatives said Lamas and Jiminez were high school sweethearts who recently got approval for a home loan, and were looking to buy a bigger house for their tight-knit family.

Authorities launched a manhunt and evacuated surrounding homes after the shooting rampage, but it wasn’t until hours later that they found the charred body because it was hidden under layers of debris.

“He was kind of a hoarder or pack rat,” Madia said.

Moses lived in the bungalow for 17 years, while the family lived in the front house for 8 years, he said.

The landlord told the Los Angeles Times that Moses had been fighting an eviction notice and recently lost his case in court.

The newspaper reported Sunday that Moses has held a security guard registration with the California Department of Consumer Affairs since 1984. However, police said they did not know whether he was working as a security guard.