Gunman kills five, self in Arizona shooting

LAKE HAVASU CITY, Ariz. - A gunman entered a western Arizona home and fatally shot five people, including the mother of his two children and her boyfriend, before fleeing with the kids to Southern California where he killed himself, police said yesterday.

The shootings late Saturday occurred as Deborah Langstaff, 23, and friends were celebrating her boyfriend's birthday, Lake Havasu City police Sgt. Joe Harrold said.

Police went to the Lake Havasu City home after dispatchers received an emergency call at 11:57 p.m. from a woman who said an intruder had shot several people.

Officers said they found the bodies of Langstaff, Primo Verdone, who had just turned 24, Russell Nyland, 42, and Ashley Nyland, 20.

Two others were wounded, but Brock Kelson, 20, died of his injuries early yesterday. Deborah Nyland, 44, was in intensive care in a Las Vegas hospital, Harrold said.

Police issued an Amber Alert for the children early yesterday and traced the alleged gunman, Brian Diez, 26, to a Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., residence several hours after the shooting.

About the same time, San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department deputies were sent to the Rancho Cucamonga home about a reported suicide. Deputies found Diez dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound about 3:30 a.m., authorities said.

The two children - a 4-year-old and a 13-month-old - were unharmed, at the house with family members, police said.

Ashley Nyland was a friend of Langstaff's, and Russell and Deborah Nyland are Ashley's parents, Harrold said. Kelson was Ashley Nyland's boyfriend, he said.

Diez fathered the two children with Deborah Langstaff during a long-term relationship, but the couple had been estranged, police said.

Diez was arrested Aug. 13 for violating an order of protection Langstaff had against him that prohibited his contacting her or the children, Harrold said.