California Mom Tapes Herself Killing Children and Self

The story of Aide Mendez is not a new one, and unfortunately, it is one that we seem to be hearing a lot lately, in one form or another. This 23-year-old mother was found to be part of a murder-suicide and her two children were unfortunate victims of this tragic tale. It appears that she was arguing with the father of her children and then turned on her iPad to record the unthinkable event.

The footage that police have include Mendez smoking methamphetamine and then going on to shoot her children, a cousin, the father of her children and then herself.

"We do know that drugs played a key role, but we don't know to what extent," says police homicide commander, Lt. Mark Salazar. "She was seen prior to the shooting smoking methamphetamine. She recorded herself on an iPad showing her and Paul Medina smoking meth. We know the power of meth."

There was also a 7-year-old girl in the apartment when this all began, but fortunately she was able to escape without suffering any physical harm.

A motive has yet to be determined. Police do know that Mendez lost a baby in the past and it is being said that she is still grieving over this loss.

Meth, firearms and cash were recovered from the apartment. Two of the firearms that were recovered were determined to have been used.

"There's some things we just don't know because most of the people in that house are dead and the one person who is alive can't speak right now," said Salazar.

The only survivor of this tragedy is Eduardo Lopez. The 33-year-old suffered from a gunshot wound to the neck and stab wounds and is currently in critical condition. Lopez is the father of the children who were killed. The children were three-year old Isaiah and 17-month-old Aliyah. The cousin who was killed was 27-year-old Paul Medina.

Neighbors report that Lopez, Mendez and the children seemed like a happy, normal family and they cannot think of any reason this would happen. Of course, if humans have taught us anything, it is that we should never judge a book by its cover. This seems to be the case here.