Deputy in California Slayings Killed Self With Service Gun

Dozens of candles sit placed on the sidewalk along with bouquets of flowers and stuffed animals outside a charred home in Riverside, Calif., on Nov. 30, 2022. Amy Taxin/AP Photo

RIVERSIDE, Calif.—A Virginia sheriff’s deputy who police say traveled to California to kill three family members of a 15-year-old girl he tried to sexually extort online killed himself with a government-issued firearm, authorities said Saturday.

Austin Lee Edwards, 28, drove across the country and on Nov. 25 killed the girl’s mother and grandparents and set fire to their home in Riverside, a city about 50 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, authorities said.