LOS ANGELES, Oct 6, 2008 (AFP) - Six people were discovered dead on Monday at a house in a upmarket suburb in northern Los Angeles in what police described as a suspected murder-suicide.

No further information about the dead and their manner of death was immediately released. The bodies were found at a home in a gated community at Porter Ranch in the San Fernando Valley, police said.

However the Los Angeles Times cited an unnamed Los Angeles Police Department source as saying that a man suffering financial problems had shot his mother, wife and three children before taking his own life.

According to a real estate website, homes in the gated community where the bodies were found are valued at between 700,000 to 830,000 dollars.

Police were to hold a news briefing at 12:30pm (1930 GMT).