LOS ANGELES — A 26-year-old man who abducted his children from Lake Havasu City, Ariz., after fatally shooting their mother and four others was found early Sunday in Rancho Cucamonga, the victim of an apparent suicide.
On Saturday night, Brian Stephen Diez entered a residence in Lake Havasu City and shot six of its occupants, including his estranged girlfriend Deborah Langstaff, 23, according to Charlie Cassens of the Lake Havasu City Police. Diez then left the scene with his children Kaia, 4, and Cole, 13 months.
Deborah Nyland, 44, the only survivor in the six-person shooting, contacted emergency dispatchers after Diez left, Cassens said. She and Brock Kelson, 20, were transported to nearby hospitals, where Kelson later died. Pronounced dead at the scene were Langstaff, Ashley Nyland, 20, Russell Nyland, 42, and Primo Verdone, 24. It was not known how the victims were related.
After issuing an Amber Alert for a child abduction early Sunday, authorities located Diez’s vehicle at a residence in Rancho Cucamonga, Cassens said. Diez was pronounced dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The two children were found safe with family members at the residence.
San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to the home about the same time after a report of a suicide, said a sheriff’s spokeswoman.