5 dead in Valley standoff

A police investigator on Friday walks near the Winnetka home where a gunman killed three family members and a SWAT officer a day earlier. The gunman was killed by a police sniper.  (Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Elisa Jones and her son Michael look at debris in their yard near the house where Edwin Rivera killed three family members and LAPD SWAT officer Randal Simmons.  (Richard Hartog / Los Angeles Times)

Investigators examine the Winnetka home where the rampage occurred. The house caught on fire soon after police shot tear gas canisters into the building. They also used an armored vehicle with a battering ram to knock down a rear wall.  (Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Investigators survey the damage inflicted when an armored vehicle with a battering ram knocked down a wall of the Winnetka home.  (Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times)

LAPD Deputy Chief Michel Moore, left, with Assistant Chiefs Earl Paysinger and Gary Brennan, attend press conference to discuss the fatal shooting of LAPD SWAT officer Randal Simmons.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

LAPD Chief William J. Bratton and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa walk down Welby Ave. after attending a press conference to discuss the shooting death of LAPD SWAT officer Randal Simmons. The early morning shooting wounded another officer and killed three males thought to be the suspect’s relatives.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

LAPD officers wait for orders along Vanowen Street, just a block from where the standoff took place.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

SWAT vehicles sit on the front lawn of the crime scene on Welby Way.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Investigators interview neighbors and others along Welby Way.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

LAPD SWAT officers gather on Vanowen Street a few blocks away from where a man was found dead in his home after a 12-hour standoff. A SWAT officer was killed along with three males thought to be the suspect’s relatives.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

A woman who described herself as a relative of the family involved in the standoff was asked by police near the crime scene to talk to officers at a command post a few blocks away.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Assistant Police Chief Jim McDonnell, right, talks with District Attorney Steve Cooley as the investigation continues.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Smoke pours from the home in the 19800 block of Welby Way in the Valley neighborhood of Winnetka.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Joel Jones, a neighbor who lives right behind the house in which a tense 12-hour standoff took place, talks about what he witnessed. He described hearing four or five bangs that sounded like flash grenades and then smelling gas.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

L.A. officers congregate overnight near the Winnetka home where a suspect was barricaded inside. A SWAT officer was killed when officers broke through the front door and exchanged fire with the suspect.  (Dan Steinberg / Associated Press)

Assistant Police Chief Jim McDonnell talks to reporters about the SWAT officers who were shot.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)