Do Not Cross Crime Scene
Photo credit: Wiki Commons

Authorities on Wednesday released the names of a Rancho Peñasquitos family of three who died this week in an apparent double murder-suicide carried out by the patriarch.

Patrol officers performing a welfare check on behalf of a concerned relative found the bodies of 54-year-old Mark Mata, his 42-year-old wife, Min Haung, and their 6-year-old son, Hank, in their High Park Lane home shortly before 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, according to San Diego police.

Preliminary evidence suggested that the father shot his spouse and child before turning the gun on himself, SDPD homicide Lt. Paul Rorrison said. The woman was found dead in the kitchen, the man and the boy in an upstairs bedroom.

A family member had asked police to check on the family at the request of a relative who hadn’t heard from them for two days, the lieutenant said.

Authorities released no suspected motive for the shootings.

— City News Service