The proliferation of despondent adults killing their families in recent months took a turn for the worse Tuesday morning in Wilmington, where a family was shot to death by a father and husband who then turned the gun on himself.

Ervin Lupoe, 40, killed his wife, two sets of twins and another child before turning a gun on himself in the tiny town near the port.

Prior to the massacre, Lupoe sent a fax to KABC detailing his misery. Apparently, Lupoe and his wife had been fired from Kaiser for some sort of impropriety.

Here’s the closing paragraph of his letter:

“So after a horrendous ordeal my wife felt it better to end our lives and why leave our children in someone’s else’s hands, in addition it seems Kiaser Permanente want’s us to kill ourselves and take our family with us. They did nothing to the manager who stated such, and did not attempt to assist us in the matter, knowing we have no job and 5 children under 8 years with no place to go. So here we are.

“Ervin Lupoe

“(Handwritten:) Oh Lord my God is there no hope for a widow’s son!”

Here’s the latest story on the massacre from the Torrance Daily Breeze, and an excerpt:

Lupoe placed calls to the news desk at KABC Channel 7 and the LAPD’s 911 center just before shooting himself at the family’s home in the 1000 block of North McFarland Avenue, police said.

All of the victims were shot in the head, as was Lupoe, police said. Some of the family members were shot more than once.

Lupoe, an X-ray technician at the medical center, wrote in his letter that a supervisor rebuffed him when he tried to talk about his job status, suggesting,

“You should have blown your brains out.”

LAPD is handling the investigation. Covina police, who handled a similar case on Christmas Eve, have not been contacted for assistance or advice, officials said Tuesday.