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Police in Puyallup, Washington, said a 69-year-old man shot his adult son and daughter to death as they slept early on March 24, 2013, then telephoned 911 to confess.

Michael League told the dispatcher he had "committed a father's worst sin," saying he had shot his son, Dennis League, 46, and his daughter, Danielle Faucett, 43, in the head. He said he wanted to "put them out of their misery" and rid them of their "demons," according to charging documents.

Investigators said League had spent close to an hour planning the shootings and used a pillow to muffle the gunshots. Danielle was shot in an upstairs bedroom and died that day. Dennis was shot on a living room couch and died four days later at Tacoma General Hospital. League told the dispatcher his wife and two grandsons, ages 6 and 7, were unharmed elsewhere in the house, and that he had left a .22 caliber pistol on the kitchen counter.

League said on the call that he intended to shoot himself next, but he surrendered peacefully when officers arrived at the family's home. He was booked into the Pierce County jail on $2 million bail on charges of first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder, with the second charge elevated after Dennis died of his wounds.

Prosecutors said League's adult children had struggled with drug and alcohol abuse for years and had repeatedly stolen cash and prescription medication from their parents. Deputy Prosecutor Stephen Penner said officers had been called to the house 167 times before the shooting.

League pleaded guilty in February 2014 to two counts of second-degree murder. Prosecutors asked for roughly 31 years in prison, but Pierce County Superior Court Judge Garold Johnson sentenced him to five years on each count, to run concurrently, after League's wife and granddaughter asked for leniency.

"I loved my children when they were born. I love them now and I will always love them," League told the court before he was sentenced.