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The suspect in a triple homicide in southern California who died in a shootout with police was a Virginia law enforcement officer who police believe drove across the country to meet a teenage girl before killing three members of her family.
Austin Lee Edwards, 28, also probably set fire to the family’s home in Riverside, California, on the day of the shooting on Friday before leaving with the girl, the Riverside police department said in a news release.
Deputies exchanged gunfire with and fatally shot Edwards after locating him with the teenager later that day, the San Bernardino county sheriff’s department and Riverside police said in news releases.
Until last month, Edwards was a Virginia state police trooper, and was recently hired as a sheriff’s deputy in that state, spokespersons said.
Edwards, a resident of North Chesterfield, Virginia, met the girl online and obtained her personal information by deceiving her with a false identity, known as “catfishing”, Riverside police said.
The bodies found in the home were identified as the girl’s grandparents and mother: Mark Winek, 69, his wife, Sharie Winek, 65, and their 38-year-old daughter, Brooke Winek.
