AP News, June 20th, 2007
A man apparently distraught over financial problems shot his wife and two young children to death before turning the gun on himself at a popular park in the hills east of San Francisco Bay, police said.
An officer responding Monday night to a report of fireworks going off found the bodies at a remote area of Tilden Regional Park, in the East Bay area between Berkeley and Orinda.
A note found at the scene, apparently written by Kevin Morrissey, 51, indicated he was distressed about money difficulties at the skin care practice he ran with his wife, East Bay Regional Park Police Chief Timothy Anderson said.
"It sure does look like it was a murder-suicide," Anderson told The Associated Press.
Police identified the other victims as Morrissey's wife, Dr. Mamiko Kawai, 40, and the couple's daughters, Nikki Morrissey, 8, and Kim Morrissey, 6. The girls were found in the rear seat of a car and the adults on the ground nearby. All had been shot to death, and a .357 Magnum revolver was found at the scene, Anderson said.
Detectives searched the family's Berkeley home to ensure there were no other victims, he said.
The parking lot at the Mineral Springs picnic area was sealed off Tuesday morning while workers cleaned up the crime scene. The area was reopened to the public by noon, Anderson said.
The park, just east of the University of California, Berkeley campus, covers nearly 2,100 acres of streams, canyons and eucalyptus groves in the otherwise densely populated East Bay.
