A Surprise man shot and killed his two children before turning the gun on himself in a murder-suicide inside a home near Bell and Litchfield roads, police reported Tuesday.
Authorities say Brock Mater, 34, was watching his two children, a 7-year-old boy and a 6-year-old girl, over the weekend. The children’s mother, who was going through a divorce with Mater, became concerned when the children didn’t show up to school Monday morning.
“The mother informed officers that she had attempted to call the children’s father multiple times without success,” Surprise police wrote in a news release Tuesday. “The mother then went to his residence and knocked on the door multiple times without a response.”
