Two children in Garden Grove were orphaned on Thursday after their father killed their mother then drove hundreds of miles north to Stockton where he shot another man before turning the gun on himself, according to police.
On Thursday, Garden Grove Police Department officers responded to a home on Morgan Lane around 8:05 a.m. for a welfare call, according to a department social media post. Authorities said a person called police and said officers and an ambulance were needed for a family member inside the home.
Once officers got to the scene, they got another call from a girl inside the home saying her mom needed help, police said. Officers found the body of Crystal Gonzalez, 37, inside. A second child, the girl’s sibling, was also inside and both were unharmed and did not know what happened to their mother, police said.
It was not immediately clear how or when Gonzalez was killed.
As the investigation was underway, police said family members reported that a vehicle belonging to Gonzalez’s husband, Miguel Lopez, 35, was spotted in Stockton, which is more than 300 miles north in San Joaquin County.
Police learned from the Stockton Police Department that Lopez was involved in a shooting in their city that morning, around the time they were called to check on the family in Garden Grove.
Officers from the Stockton Police Department responded to a report of a shooting on West Eight Mile Road on Thursday around 8 a.m. and discovered that two men had been shot.
It appeared Lopez shot a 54-year-old man, critically injuring him, then shot himself, police said. Lopez was pronounced dead at the scene.
Detectives are still working on the investigation and have asked anyone with more information to contact Garden Grove police at (714) 741-5413. Officers are also working to reunite the children with their family members.
