
A heart-wrenching tragedy struck a quiet San Mateo neighborhood where four bodies, including two children, were discovered inside a home on Alameda de las Pulgas, Hoodline reports. The grim scene unfolded on Monday, and the deceased have since been identified as Anand Henry, Alice Benziger, and their twin boys.
San Mateo Police Department officers, who responded following a welfare check call, found no signs of forced entry and accessed the house through an unlocked window, indicating the case's complexity. The adults were found with gunshot wounds, and near them, a 9mm handgun that was registered to Henry was on the bathroom floor, based on the information given by the San Mateo Police Department. Anand Henry is believed to have shot Benziger multiple times before turning the weapon on himself, suffering a single gunshot wound. Meanwhile, authorities have not yet released details on the children's exact cause of death, though they did not die from gunfire or exhibit signs of bodily trauma.
The incident, estimated to have occurred on the afternoon of Saturday, February 10, deeply impacted the community, bringing road closures and significant traffic delays as police conducted their investigation and kept parts of the area blocked off. According to Hoodline, disruptions persisted with northbound traffic on Alameda de las Pulgas at 42nd Ave, southbound at Fernwood St, and westbound 41st Ave to Kelton Ct effectively shut down.
While the investigation into the motives behind the tragedy is ongoing, local authorities have shared domestic violence and mental health resources with the community, underlining that assistance is available for those in need because, as they stated, in a gesture toward prevention and communal healing, "something like this does not need to happen again," the message conveyed through a statement by the San Mateo Police Department. Contact details for several support hotlines, including CORA, San Mateo County Health-Mental Health Services, StarVista, and the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, were provided in response to the incident.