A banker shot his estranged wife dead in the street before turning the gun on himself in front of their two young children on Halloween during an alleged custody dispute.
Scott Gimbel, 50, and Linda Sachs Gimbel, 44, were found outside an apartment block in Mission Viejo, Orange County, California, at 8.30pm on Friday.
It is believed one was handing their 13-year-old daughter and seven-year-old son to the other in a custody exchange.
But as the children sat in the car, Mr Gimbel, senior vice president of a leading mortgage lending firm PFI Financial Inc, opened fire.
Mrs Sachs Gimbel, an accounting executive at Citadel Services Corp, was killed instantly,reports claim, before Scott then killed himself.
