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An off-duty Las Vegas police lieutenant shot and killed his wife and 5-year-old son, set the family home on fire and then killed himself after calling 911 to confess, authorities said.

Hans Walters, 52, called dispatchers about 8:20 a.m. on Jan. 21, 2013, and said in a flat, calm voice, "I just shot and killed my son, Max, and my wife, Michelle," according to a recording later released by police. He said he would burn the house and warned that he would shoot any officer or firefighter who approached before turning the gun on himself. "Please forgive me for my sins," he said near the end of the call, which ran 1 minute, 43 seconds.

Officers who reached the home on Esther Drive in Boulder City, about 20 miles southeast of Las Vegas, found it engulfed in flames. Walters appeared briefly at the front door holding a handgun, waved responders away and went back inside, police said. He was later found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The Clark County coroner ruled the deaths a murder-suicide. Walters' wife, 46-year-old Kathryn "Michelle" Walters, and their son, Maximilian, both died of gunshot wounds, investigators said. The fire was severe enough that one of the victims had to be identified through fingerprints.

Walters had been with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department since 1991 and was promoted to lieutenant in 2010, the department said. His wife was a former Metro patrol officer. Because both had ties to the agency, the Henderson Police Department led the investigation as an outside department.

Henderson investigators closed the case months later and concluded that Walters acted alone. They cited his wife's chronic pain and heavy medication, mounting medical bills and financial pressure as possible factors, according to the Boulder City Review.

Police released the 911 recording in April 2013. The fire-damaged house sat vacant for a year while relatives disputed the estate, then was torn down on the first anniversary of the killings.