On the evening of August 20, 1989, José and Kitty were sitting on a couch in the den of their house in Beverly Hills when Lyle and Erik entered the den carrying shotguns. José was shot in the back of the head with a Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun. Kitty was awakened by the shots and got up from the couch. She was shot in the leg while running toward the hallway, causing her to slip on her own blood and fall, and was then shot several times in the arm, chest, and face, leaving her unrecognizable. Both José and Kitty were also shot in the kneecaps in an attempt to make the murders appear connected to organized crime.