California mother kills husband and two children days after birth; family suspects postpartum psychosis

Marine Basmajian, 30, fatally shot her husband and their two young children in North Hills on 27 May before turning the gun on herself. Family members believe severe postpartum psychosis may have been a factor.

California mother kills husband and two children days after birth; family suspects postpartum psychosis

North Hills family wiped out days after welcoming newborn

The night before Marine Basmajian killed her husband and two children, the family was celebrating the birth of a six-day-old girl with pizza, music and dancing, NY Post Metro reports. Less than 24 hours later, on 27 May just before 8 p.m., Basmajian, 30, fatally shot her husband Khajag Basmajian, 31, and their two children — two-year-old Alec and infant Ella — inside the family home on Londelius Street in North Hills, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. She then turned the gun on herself.

The couple had not been living in their own home at the time of the killings. After their Winnetka property was burgled twice in two years, the family had moved temporarily into the North Hills residence belonging to Khajag's parents. Relatives said the repeated break-ins left Marine particularly shaken. Following the first burglary, Khajag purchased a handgun for protection — the same firearm later used in the shooting, according to family members.

Marine's brother, Arthur Shamlyan, described the atmosphere at the gathering the night before the deaths. "They were all at the family house and they were dancing, eating pizza, listening to music," Shamlyan told the Daily Mail. "The family is very close."

In the wake of the tragedy, relatives have struggled to explain what drove Basmajian to kill the people closest to her. Several family members believe she may have been experiencing severe postpartum psychosis, a condition that can cause hallucinations, delusions, extreme mood swings and a break from reality in the period following childbirth.

Shamlyan said: "Postpartum depression is the only thing that we can think of because what she did was not like her."

The LAPD continues to investigate the circumstances surrounding the killings.

Source: NY Post Metro