EL CAJON, Calif. -- Just days after his wife filed for divorce, a man is suspected of killing his baby daughter and mother-in-law and shooting and critically wounding a police officer before setting the family's home on fire, police said.
A second body was found Monday in the burned-out home in El Cajon, a working class city east of San Diego, police spokesman Lt. Mark Coit said. It was believed to be the body of Beverly Rakov, 51, the mother-in-law of suspected gunman Kevin Collier. The other body found in the home Sunday night was believed to be that of Collier.
Coit said both bodies were burned beyond recognition so forensics tests would be needed for positive identification.
Collier is suspected of killing his baby daughter in his truck, then torching his home, in a dramatic series of events that ended with him critically wounding El Cajon Officer Jarred Slocum, 28.
Slocum remained hospitalized in critical but stable condition after undergoing surgery for a gunshot wound to his forehead that fractured his skull.
Collier, 32, texted friends and family on Sunday that he had killed his daughter and mother-in-law, Coit said.
The baby was found inside the truck with a gunshot wound to the head, and authorities were awaiting confirmation from the coroner's office that the girl was Collier's 1-year-old daughter, Rhilee, Coit said.
Authorities believe she was killed before police arrived.
According to court records cited by the San Diego Union-Tribune, Collier's wife Alyssa Collier filed for divorce Wednesday after just over a year-and-a-half of marriage.
She requested sole custody of their daughter and monthly child and spousal support until she finds a job. In the file, she described Kevin Collier as a "good dad" but said realistically he worked too many hours to have shared custody, according to the newspaper. She wrote that he had just gotten a new job, paying about $7,900 a month plus bonuses.
Heather Gooden, a friend of Rakov, said she received a message early Sunday in which Rakov said her son-in-law had guns and she feared for her life.
Slocum was responding to a call shortly after 5 p.m. Sunday that a gunman had set a home on fire. When Slocum approached the dwelling, he was shot by someone inside the house, Coit said.
The four-year police department veteran fired before grabbing his neck and falling against a chain link fence. His rookie partner, Tim McFarland, ran to drag him to cover, assisted by two neighbors.
Smoke billowed from the home. Helicopters dumped water overhead to control the blaze as SWAT team members surrounded the property and officials evacuated nearby homes and shut down surrounding roads and freeways, unsure whether the gunman had escaped.
As the flames eased, firefighters moved in to the home, protected by gun-wielding SWAT officers.
They found the body of an adult, believed to be Collier, near the front of the home's interior, the head and shoulders protruding from the burning debris.
Police believe Collier died in the blaze because authorities had sealed off the area and he was not found.
Coit said Collier's wife managed to escape and was safe. Police were checking on whether there had been any prior domestic disputes reported at the home.
The stench of smoke early Monday still wafted through the neighborhood of lower- to middle-class older homes in the San Diego suburb, as bewildered neighbors stared at the blackened home in disbelief.
Gooden, 41, arrived sobbing at the police tape cordoning off the homes. She said she has known the family for 30 years and never heard of any problems with violence.
Gooden said Rakov owned the home, and Rakov's daughter, Alyssa, and her husband and baby daughter had moved in with Rakov after a job opportunity for Collier in New York fell through in December.
Gooden said she texted Rakov shortly before 8 a.m. Sunday to see if she could pick up her daughter's furniture that Rakov was storing for her.
Rakov texted back that she couldn't do it because her son-in-law had taken her grandchild and police were at her home.
Then she wrote a chilling final message: "I have never been so scared in my life, Heather. He has guns. He's gonna shoot my daughter. (H)e has lost his (expletive) mind."
Gooden sent repeated texts to Rakov throughout the day Sunday but has gotten no replies.
"I can't believe she's gone," said Gooden, tears streaming down her face.