Six found shot dead at California ranch

An investigator for a district attorney’s office was found dead in his sprawling ranch home in Riverside, southern California, along with five other people, including his three children.

They had all been shot dead in their beds in the middle of the night, authorities said.

Sheriff Bob Doyle said detectives have not reached any conclusions about the killings, but they had not ruled out a murder-suicide. The sheriff said there was no evidence of a break-in or struggle in any of the rooms, and he added that the “community is in no danger.”

“We are not at this time looking for a suspect,” he said.

David McGowan, 44, was found dead of a gunshot wound to the head close to the entrance of the home, Doyle said at a news conference. A handgun and a phone, which may have been used to call police, were found near his body.

A 14-year-old boy, two girls – ages 8 and 10 – and two adult women were found in beds throughout the house, all of them shot in the head. The school district where the children were enrolled released a letter identifying them as Chase, Paige and Rayne.

“The beds were undisturbed. The house itself was undisturbed. It did not appear that the house had been ransacked,” Doyle said.

The sheriff said someone called the police emergency dispatcher from the house. A dispatcher didn’t hear any voices on the line, but was able to identify the sounds of the telephone hitting the wall and a gunshot, Doyle said.

“It was pretty much no one on the other end of the phone. There was some noise that was heard by dispatch,” he said.

The remote, mountainous area is about 100 miles southeast of Los Angeles and is well-known for its horse ranches.

McGowan was a five-year veteran of the Riverside County district attorney’s office and previously worked as a detective with the Cathedral City Police Department.