An unemployed man with a finance degree who was despondent over his own financial problems shot and killed his wife, their three children, his mother-in-law and himself in their home in a gated community in Los Angeles, the police said. Officers found the bodies after the wife failed to show up at a neighbor's home to go to work, Deputy Chief Michel Moore said.

The deaths occurred sometime after Saturday evening. The man left a will and two suicide notes, one for the police and one for friends and relatives. The family members' names were not immediately released. The children were sons ages 19, 12 and 7.

The man had a master's of business administration in finance and had worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers and Sony Pictures, but he had been unemployed for several months, Chief Moore said.