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Yahoo! engineer in murder-suicide riddle

Six dead and one critical after Santa Clara massacre

A father suspected of murdering five members of his family before killing himself has been identified as a Yahoo! engineer.

Devan Kalathat, 42, an analytics engineer at Yahoo! since 2004, shot dead his 11-year-old son, his four-year-old daughter, his brother-in-law, sister-in-law, and their 11-month-old niece during a massacre at his Santa Clara home before turning the gun on himself, police allege. Kalathat's wife was the sole survivor of Sunday's bloodbath, during which she suffered multiple gunshot wounds that have left her in critical condition.

Kalathat was named yesterday as the suspected killer. Police are yet to suggest a motive for the attack, though fear of redundancy or other financial motives has reportedly been ruled out. Detectives are reportedly working on the theory that a family dispute sparked of the tragedy.

Ashok Poothemkandi, Kalathat's brother-in-law, only arrived in the US from India with his family two weeks ago having secured a year's contract with HP.

Pictures of the victims along with more background on the tragedy can be found in an AP story here. ®

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