By Jorge Casuso

September 28, 2026 -- The deaths of a husband and wife inside their Santa Monica home at sunrise Saturday was the result of a murder suicide, police detectives have determined.

The bodies were found at 9:39 a.m. by officers conducting a welfare check at a residence on the 3100 block of Pico Boulevard, said SMPD spokesman Lt. Lewis Gilmour.

"Officers entered the residence and located two deceased adults, a husband and wife," Gilmour said. "The investigation determined that the husband fatally shot his wife before taking his own life."

Investigators believe the incident took place at approximately 6:42 a.m., according to police. A firearm was recovered at the scene. No other individuals are believed to have been involved.

The identities of the deceased are being withheld pending formal identification and notification of next of kin by the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner, which will determine the official causes and manners of death.

The incident comes five months after a top Downtown Santa Monica official was found dead along with his wife at a home in Venice in what was determined was a murder suicide, according to the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) ("Downtown Official Found Dead in Possible Murder Suicide," April 23, 2026) .

According to a report by the national non-profit Violence Policy Center, there were 526 deaths that were the result of murder-suicides in the U.S. in the first half of last year, of which 237 were suicides and 289 were homicides.

The study, which analyzed news reports during the six-month period, found that 65 percent involved an intimate partner. Of these, 99 percent were females killed by their partners, and 88 percent involved a gun.

Of the 237 murder suicides, 219 of the suicides were men who killed women and 12 were women who killed men, while the other six were not identified by sex, according to the findings of the study released in April. Eighty percent of the murder-suicides occurred in the home.

Anyone with information related to Saturday's incident should contact the Watch Commander, available 24 hours a day, at 310-458-8427.