Man who killed three, shot dead by his son

A Los Angeles man shot and killed his wife and two others in his home on New Year's Eve before his son wrestled the gun from him and fatally shot him.

Theguardian.com, reported that the chain of events that set off the dispute that led to the shooting was over a washing machine.

The two other victims killed were the son’s 48-year-old girlfriend who also lives at the house in the Rowland Heights area of the city and a 27-year-old man who was visiting, the county sheriff’s department said.

The 54-year-old father was a heavy drinker with a large gun collection, and authorities had made dozens of previous trips to the home, the department said.

Investigators were talking to surviving witnesses to establish what led to the father pulling out a semi-automatic pistol and opening fire.

“It looks like it was a dispute between the dad and the son’s girlfriend, probably over using the washing machine,” sheriff’s lieutenant, John Corina told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.

The son, 33-year-old Christopher Morey, eventually recovered the gun from his father and shot him, authorities said.

Morey is being held on suspicion of murder on $1m bail, authorities said.

Morey and his girlfriend lived at the house with his parents.

His 54-year-old mother had recently had a stroke and the younger couple were looking after her, the sheriff said.