Wednesday, January 28, 2009

TRAGIC: MAN KILLS FAMILY & HIMSELF AFTER BEING FIRED

Ervin Antonio Lupoe who had been recently let go from a Kaiser Permanente hospital in West Los Angeles, killed his wife, Ana, their five children: 8-year-old Brittney, 5-year-old twin girls Jaszmin and Jassely and 2-year-old twin boys Benjamin and Christian. He then took his own life after faxing a letter to KABC Channel 7 and calling the LAPD saying, “I just returned home, and my whole family has been shot.”

A suicide note found at the scene “indicated a business dispute” between Lupoe and Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Medical Center. In the faxed note to KABC, Lupoe said he was despondent over an employment situation. Both he and his wife were former employees of the medical center. According to reports, there were grounds for termination that did not come as a result of layoffs. Lupoe and his wife then made a suicide pact:

“So after a horrendous ordeal, my wife felt it better to end our lives, and why leave our children in someone’s else’s hands,” the note said.

Such a sad story. Visit the LA Times for updated coverage.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Everyday we here and see stories on the news that are sad and tragic. Some more than others. But for some reason this one really touched me deeply ; I feel some kind of connection to them even though I have never met them. Even as i'm writing this the tears well up in my eyes . 1st I just heard the story, I heard they lived in Wilmington, so I called my Sister in Law to see if she possibly knew them because she lives in Wilmington. Then I saw the pictures and that is when it really hit home. It was like those were my Grandbabies I was looking at, or the woman could be me. I started asking questions like what would cause a man to do something like this? How could he have destroyed such a beautiful family? & the comments I made, he must have been crazy, she must have known he was crazy, why didn't he just kill himself and leave his wife and kids alone? He looks short & Latin, he must have had a "short mans complex". He said his wife agreed to this but I know she couldn't have! he was a crazy selfish, jealous man that said if i'm going , i'm not leaving my woman here for anyone else!
Well most or maybe none of these questions and many more can never be answered. We may never know the real reasons why. I guess now all we can do is ask ourselves what can we do to possibly help someone else who is in despair, and possibly thinking there is nothing to live for. Just this week thousands of people lost there jobs. I was layed off once but I don't remember ever thinking of killing myself and kids!
Are we our brothers keeper? The least we could give those who share with us is a reason to have hope. You know when your co-workers start telling you their business and you say to yourself, that too much information and I got my own problems to deal with. I got my own baggage, and don't need any extra, but the difference is we have someone to help us carry our baggage so we can go on know that things will get better. Well maybe just a few words of encouragement might be just all they need to get though another day. Yes we have a hope, so we need to share that hope with others. We don't necessarily have to go into full blown witnessing mode every time. But we can plant a seed, a seed of hope, encouragement , faith, love. that's the least we can do. We may not have all the money to save everyone from there financial distresses but as Paul said silver and gold have I none but what I have I give unto you. You may never know , it but you could be saving someone's life.
Deb

Anonymous said...

Yes, this is a very sad story. For a man to take his life and the lives of his beautiful family!! I cannot begin to imagine what led to these circumstances, but I can only believe that this man had some kind of mental illness...May Yahvah be with the rest of their family during this tragic time..
SB