April 6 (Bloomberg) -- A U.S. father killed his five children and then shot himself after learning his wife was leaving him.

The children, ranging in age from 7 to 16, may have been shot dead with a rifle by Washington state man James Harrison early on April 4, said Pierce County Sherriff’s Department spokesman Ed Troyer in a telephone interview.

Four of the children were found in their beds in the family’s mobile home near Graham, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) southeast of Tacoma. The fifth, a girl, was found in a bathroom, after what appeared to have been a struggle, Troyer said.

Three Pittsburgh police officers responding to a domestic- disturbance call April 4 were killed when a man armed with an AK-47 rifle opened fire on them, the police department said. A day earlier, a gunman killed 13 people at the offices of a refugee aid organization in downtown Binghamton, New York state, before killing himself, police said.

There have been 53 mass shooting deaths in the U.S. in the past month, according to the Associated Press.

Harrison had gone looking for his wife with his 16-year-old daughter on the evening of April 3 and found her with a new boyfriend at a convenience store.

After talking with his wife, who told Harrison she was leaving him for the other man, he returned to his home and killed the children after putting them to bed, Troyer said.

Committed Suicide

Police suspect Harrison later drove back to the convenience store intending to kill his wife and her boyfriend and committed suicide nearby, Troyer said.

In the Pittsburgh incident, the gunman, identified by police as Richard Poplawski, 23, started firing at the officers from the window of his home in the Stanton Heights neighborhood.

Poplawski surrendered after barricading himself in the house for several hours with a relative. He will be charged with at least three counts of homicide, said Pittsburgh Police Chief Nathan Harper.

The gunman who opened fire at the American Civic Association in Binghamton was a Vietnamese immigrant who recently lost his job and was upset about his inability to learn English, according to police.

Police Chief Joseph Zikuski identified the shooter as Jiverly Wong, 41, who had changed his name to Voong.

The association helps immigrants and refugees with counseling, resettlement, citizenship, interpreters and translators, according to its Web site. Zikuski said Wong had been taking classes there until the first week of March before he dropped out.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jeran Wittenstein in San Francisco at jwittenstei1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: April 6, 2009 00:31 EDT