A man shot and killed his mother and the family dog, scrawled a bomb threat on the wall and then turned the gun on himself inside a Simi Valley home Thursday, police said.

The nightmarish murder-suicide occurred in the home of the man’s aunt and uncle, where he also was living, in the 500 block of Fairfield Road. The man’s mother was visiting from the Las Vegas area, Simi Valley Police Cmdr. Steve Shorts said.

The victims’ names were not immediately provided.

“We don’t know exactly what happened inside the home, but some sort of dispute obviously occurred and, ultimately, it turned into a murder-suicide,” Shorts said.


The man’s uncle arrived home about 7 p.m. and found his sister-in-law’s body lying in a pool of blood. When authorities arrived, they saw a note scrawled on a wall indicating there was a bomb in one of the bedrooms. They evacuated everyone from the residence plus a few nearby homes in the gated community and summoned a SWAT team and bomb squad to assess the situation, Sgt. Chris Johnson said.

Ultimately, authorities determined there was no explosive device. Instead, during their search, they found the dead dog and the man’s body upstairs, Johnson said.

The gun used in the shootings was found inside the house. There were no witnesses to the violence, so detectives are working to piece together what led to the slayings.

“The investigation will be based on validating the cause of death and trying to determine what dispute caused the incident to occur,” Shorts said.