FATHER MAD AT HIS WIFE, KILLS TWINS : LAWYER SHOOTS HIMSELF.

Byline: Mary F. Pols Daily News Staff Writer

While his panicked wife stood helplessly outside the couple's million-dollar home near Beverly Hills, an entertainment industry attorney shot to death his 18-month-old twins, then killed himself, police said.

According to Los Angeles Police Department spokesman Eduardo Funes, William John Billick, 53, the in-house attorney for the Motion Picture Association of America, was distraught about his wife's plans to leave him and take their son and daughter.

Police discovered the bodies of Billick and the twins, Alexandria and Daniel, about 7:25 a.m. in a master bedroom in the attorney's Hazen Drive home, off Coldwater Canyon Avenue just north of Beverly Hills.

The fraternal twins died from single gunshot wounds, said Detective Ron Phillips.

Just minutes before the shootings, Billick brandished a gun and chased his wife, Jackie Brand, 35, from the home, according to the wife.

The couple had been fighting for several hours about their pending divorce, Brand told police. She said her husband threatened her after she told him she was moving out and taking the twins with her, Brand told police.

After she fled the home about 4 a.m., Brand called police from a neighbor's home. A patrol car arrived shortly afterward, and officers questioned Brand outside.

At about 4:25 a.m., shots rang out from the house, and police called in SWAT and crisis negotiation teams.

Negotiators tried to communicate with Billick by telephone and bullhorn, but he did not respond, police said. After a three-hour stand-off, officers entered the house and found the bodies.

Funes said police did not go inside the home earlier because it was considered barricaded and dangerous.

Police had been called to the couple's sprawling, single-story home once before because of a domestic violence disturbance, Funes said.

After that incident, in September 1995, Billick was arrested on suspicion of spousal abuse. The case was dismissed after Brand told police her injuries were relatively minor, Funes said.

Neighbors said Billick's 21-year-old daughter from a previous marriage lived with the couple and the twins, but police said she was not home when the shootings occurred.

By midafternoon, the Los Angeles County Coroner's van had left the residence. A Realtor's for-sale sign hung on a post in front of the home. A new BMW still bearing dealer's plates was in the driveway, and a sport utility vehicle was parked in front of the home.

Strapped in the back of both vehicles were poignant reminders of the slain children: matching car seats. A child's toy keyboard lay on the floor of one vehicle.

The license plate on the sport utility vehicle read XXDNAXY, an apparent reference to the twins.

The killings shocked friends and neighbors. ``It's very sad, and I'm too upset to talk about it,'' said attorney Barbara Rosenfeld, who worked for Billick at the MPAA's Encino headquarters.

The children were well-known in the neighborhood. A neighbor who declined to identify herself said she often saw the couple's housekeeper push them in a stroller. The fair-haired twins were so irresistibly cute that the woman said she had to stop and admire the babies every time she saw them.

``They were absolutely gorgeous,'' she said.

Several neighbors said they were aware that Billick and Brand had marital problems but did not consider them serious.

The tree-lined street is dotted with luxury homes and older, more modest residences. The street was blocked off with yellow tape, but police raised the barriers to admit residents, most of whom - among them Steve Martin - drove luxury cars. The comedian lives up the street from Billick, police said.

One neighbor said the street has been home to many celebrities over the years, including Ed McMahon, Joan Collins, Linda Evans, Robert Goulet and Burt Bacharach.

Billick's home, which has a pool and gazebo in the back yard, is listed for sale with Douglas Properties. The asking price is about $1.2 million, according to a source who declined to be named.

CAPTION(S):

Photo, map

PHOTO (color) A sport utility vehicle parked in front of William John Billick's Beverly Hills Home bears a license plate that apparently refers to Billick's twin children, whom he killed early Sunday before turning his gun on himself.

John Lazar/Special to the Daily News

Map: Site of shooting