A father has murdered his own children in a horrific manner right in front of his wife after a really violent row.
Robert Hodges
Robert Hodges, a 33-year-old dad has murdered his three young kids - including his eight-month-old baby - in front of his wife after a violent row, cops have confirmed.
According to The Sun UK, Robert Hodges killed the youngsters in their West Sacramento, California home at around midnight last Thursday, in what cops described as a "horrific" incident of domestic violence.
At the time of the attack, neighbours said they didn't hear any signs of fighting.
Theresa Bustamante said: "No fighting, no nothing. [Their apartment is] so quiet. I was in my apartment the whole time. I was watching movies and I didn't hear nothing."
According to reports, cops were called to a West Sacramento apartment over reports of an incident of domestic violence - hours before the kids died.
But as cops were on their way, they received a second call claiming the kids were possibly dead.
The youngster's great-grandma, Irene Aiello said she couldn't understand what had happened.
"Everything appeared to be OK" between the couple who had been married for more than a dozen years, she said.
Although police have not released the identities of the young victims, Aiello confirmed that the couple had an 11-year-old boy, a nine-year-old girl and another boy who was born in January.
All the kids died at the scene, despite the efforts of first responders. West Sacramento Police Sgt. Roger Kinney said the mother is "traumatised" by the incident.
He continued: "It's horrific and it's very difficult to deal with. This [investigation] is going to take not hours, not days, it's going to take a long time to come to grips with what happened there."
A chaplain will be sent to help neighbours of the victims deal with the attack. Cops who responded to the incident will receive help from local grief counsellors.
Hodges reportedly fled the home after the slayings, but he was later taken into custody by California Highway patrol Officers.
He was booked into Yolo County jail on three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.
Remembering the happy children, Daniel Vertelnikov, who is friends with the youngsters, said: "We always played together.
"We played different games like racing, and I don't know, it's [like] bang. It just happened. It's so sad."
A vigil will be held at Southport Elementary School on Thursday, where two of the children attended.