PUBLIC SAFETY FACILITY — The Los Angeles Coroner's Office has identified the man who committed suicide Wednesday morning after allegedly taking two family members hostage as John Carroll Lowery.
Lowery, 48, of Santa Monica, allegedly held both his 15-year-old son and 86-year-old mother-in-law hostage Tuesday afternoon after a domestic dispute with his estranged wife escalated.
The wife was not present at the time of the incident.
The son escaped between 4 and 5 p.m. on Tuesday and called the police, who blocked off Stewart Avenue from Olympic Boulevard to Virginia Avenue and Delaware Avenue from Stewart Avenue to Centinela Boulevard. A negotiating team was sent to the home.
Lowery released his mother-in-law just before midnight, but refused to come out of the house, Lewis said.
Officers could see movement in the home until roughly 1 a.m. They made the decision to enter at that time and found Lowery dead.
Members of the Santa Monica Police Department's SWAT team threw in gas canisters in an attempt to flush Lowery out.
The team entered the home at approximately 4 a.m. and found him dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, said Sgt. Richard Lewis of the SMPD.
Lewis confirmed that Lowery had a criminal history.
