GRAPEVINE, Texas (Reuters) – A gunman who killed six people and himself at a family Christmas celebration was dressed in a Santa Claus suit when opened fire, police said on Monday.

Authorities continued their search for clues in Grapevine, a Dallas suburb dubbed the "Christmas Capital of Texas," to explain the Sunday murder-suicide rampage that left the seven shot dead among unwrapped holiday presents.

The dead -- four women and three men ages 15 to 59 - were found Sunday morning in an apartment living room by police answering a voiceless 911 emergency call, authorities said.

Two pistols were recovered from the home, said Sergeant Robert Eberling of the Grapevine police department, who called it a "gruesome crime scene" and the worst outburst of gun violence in the town's history.

The last homicide in the town was in June 2010.

Authorities were waiting on autopsy reports before releasing identities, a potential motive and details on what exactly happened inside the home, Eberling said.

"We have a pretty good idea who these folks were, and we're trying to work through contacting other family members so we can better piece together what took place and why it took place," he said.

Eberling said the shooter was dressed in a Santa Claus suit but gave no details.

Grapevine police Lieutenant Todd Dearing said the victims' ages were 15, 19, 22, 55, 56, 58 and 59. The victims in their 50s were two couples, Dearing said.

The shooter was one of the older men, he said.

Circumstances of the shooting remained sketchy, but Eberling said it appeared as though the bloodbath unfolded during a family holiday celebration.

No one was found alive by police arriving at the home, he said.

A community of about 46,000 people some 20 miles northwest of downtown Dallas, Grapevine is known for its wine-tasting salons. It was proclaimed by the state Senate as the "Christmas Capital of Texas" for its abundance of annual holiday-season events.

"This is obviously a terrible tragedy," Mayor William Tate said Sunday night in a statement given to Reuters.

"The fact that it happened on Christmas makes it even more tragic."

VOICELESS 911 CALL

Police dispatched at about 11:30 a.m. on Sunday found the bodies in the first-floor living room of a two-story unit in the Lincoln Vineyards apartments, police said.

The 911 caller never spoke to police, and officers did not see the telephone when they arrived, officials said.


Eberling said the victims appeared to have just opened Christmas presents when the shooting started, and there was no sign of forced entry or a struggle.


"By all appearances, they're all part of the same family," Eberling said, adding that some were related through marriage.


Lincoln Vineyards is a middle-income complex near Colleyville Heritage High School, one of the area's most highly regarded schools.


Several neighbors told Reuters that children frequently played in front of the apartment, and they regularly saw young adults leaving for work.


Additional reporting and writing by Steve Gorman and Karen Brooks; Editing by Tim Gaynor and Peter Bohan)

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. – Carol Channing's husband, a onetime classmate whom she married some 70 years later, has died on the eve of his 92nd birthday.
A family spokesman says former rancher and local political leader Harry Kullijian collapsed Monday at the couple's Rancho Mirage, Calif., home after suffering an aneurysm. He later died at a nearby hospital.
Kullijian was a onetime walnut grower in California's Central Valley and served two terms on the Modesto, Calif., City Council.
Afterward, he became one of the founders of Citizens Leading Effective Action Now, or CLEAN, to fight pornography.
Kullijian and Channing went to the same middle school in San Francisco. After the death of his first wife in 2002, Kullijian and Channing were reunited and they married in 2004.
They went on to form the Channing-Kullijian Foundation to support arts education in schools.

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles coroner's office says former "Saturday Night Live" writer Joseph Bodolai has committed suicide in a Hollywood hotel room.
Coroner's office spokesman Craig Harvey says room service staff found the body of the 63-year-old Bodolai at 1:30 p.m. Monday in a room at Hollywood's Re-Tan Hotel. He checked into the hotel on Dec. 19.
Harvey said Tuesday that Bodolai drank a mixture of Gatorade and antifreeze. The death has been ruled a suicide.
Besides writing on 20 episodes of "Saturday Night Live" in 1981 and 1982, Bodolai was the TV producer for 20 episodes of "The Kids in the Hall" Canadian sketch comedy troupe.
Police Cmdr. Andrew Smith says there was no suicide note.

New York – According to new data, the median net worth of a House member is 35 times that of an average American
The economic disparity between U.S. Congress members and the constituents they represent is growing, according to new data from the Center for Responsive Politics. Between 2004 and 2010, the median net worth of members of Congress jumped 15 percent, while the median net worth for the average American dropped eight percent. This is concerning, says Peter Whoriskey at The Washington Post, because "the growth of income inequality has tracked very closely with measures of political polarization." Here’s how the widening gap breaks down:
$280,000 Median net worth of a House member in 1984, adjusted for inflation, according to The Washington Post
$725,000 Median net worth of a House member in 2009, an increase of 160 percent over 25 years
SEE MORE: Is PolitiFact's 'Lie of the Year' a lie itself?
 
$913,000Median net worth of a Congress member when the Senate body is included, according to The New York Times
$20,600Median net worth of an average American in 1984, adjusted for inflation
SEE MORE: Secret Santa in the Senate: The wisecracks
 
$20,500 Median net worth of an average American in 2009, a decline over that same 25-year period

35.4 timesHow much more the median net value of a House member is worth than that of the average American
SEE MORE: 'In God We Trust': Did Congress waste time reaffirming the U.S. motto?
 
$176,000Annual base pay for a member of Congress
$44,410Mean annual salary for employed Americans in 2010, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics
$864,000Median net worth of the freshman class of Congress elected last year
26Increase, in percentage, adjusted for inflation, of the 2010 freshmen's median net worth over that of the 2004 freshmen

$100,000Amount Rep. Ed Pastor (D - Ariz.) held in his saving account when he was first elected to Congress in 1991, according to The New York Times. In his 20 years serving Congress, he has managed to save nearly a million dollars.

$1.4 millionAverage amount spent by winning House candidates on their election campaigns last year

4 timesIncrease in the average cost of a 2010 congressional campaign over that of a 1975 campaign, adjusted for inflation. "Running a campaign has become much, much more expensive," says Whoriskey, making it more likely that those who choose to run are already wealthy and can contribute their own funds to a campaign. Sources: Balloon Juice, Bureau of Labor Statisitics, NY Times, Prairie Weather, Wash. Post

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ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece's conservative New Democracy party dropped its insistence on holding elections as early as February 19 on Tuesday, potentially giving technocrat Prime Minister Lucas Papademos a few more weeks to pass reforms and get a vital debt restructuring deal.

New Democracy spokesman Yannis Michelakis said the party could agree to an extension under certain circumstances but said that elections would have to be held at the latest by Greek Orthodox Easter, which falls on April 15.

"Any change to the agreed February 19 deadline depends on the debt swap talks," Michelakis told radio station Vima.

The election date had been tentatively scheduled before Papademos was appointed last month but a crowded reform agenda has piled pressure on the government to put back the date.

Political deadlock over the timing of the election has also complicated efforts to reach an accord on a 130 billion euro bailout plan that includes a crucial bond swap arrangement with private sector creditors.

Papademos, a former central banker appointed to secure the bailout agreement, is racing to complete tax, pension and justice reforms demanded by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, debt-laden Greece's lenders.

New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras, who is leading in the opinion polls, softened his stance after meeting Papademos on Friday but is less willing than other members of the caretaker coalition to extend the deadline further.

The Socialist PASOK and the far-right LAOS parties, both also in the government backing Papademos, have already said the prime minister should be given more time to complete his task.

"We would have no objections if elections were held even after Easter," PASOK spokesman Panos Beglitis told reporters on Tuesday after a 90-minute meeting between Papademos and Socialist leader George Papandreou.

Papandreou's Socialists handed over power to Papademos last month, after PASOK deputies refused to bear sole responsibility for sweeping austerity measures demanded by the EU and IMF.

PASOK's opinion poll ratings have collapsed in recent months and Papandreou may face a leadership challenge in a party meeting later on Tuesday.

The timing of an election has been closely watched as negotiations have continued between the government and banks over a deal in which private sector lenders would accept a nominal 50 percent cut on their holdings of Greek bonds in return for a mix of cash and new bonds.

The arrangement is intended to cut Greece's debt by 100 billion euros, allowing it to bring its debt from 160 percent of gross domestic product to a still huge but more manageable 120 percent by 2020.

The so-called Private Sector Involvement (PSI) forms a central element of the overall bailout package, which Greece urgently needs to stave off a bankruptcy that could destabilize the entire euro zone.

(Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou and George Georgiopoulos; Editing by Alison Williams)