Five family members including three children were found dead in a home in Utah on Tuesday, and another, age 17, was taken to a hospital with a gunshot wound, police said. The dead were two adults, an 11-year-old boy, and two girls ages 9 and 2, according to Roxeanne Vainuku, a spokesperson for the West Valley City Police Department. It was not immediately clear how they died.
They were found in a house in West Valley City, about 14 kilometres southwest of Salt Lake City. The teen was discovered in the garage. “Absolutely horrific. This is something that certainly will weigh heavily on investigators in this case,” Vainuku said at a nighttime news conference.
Authorities do not believe there is a suspect on the loose, and the shooting is something that was “isolated to this home,” she added Because the 17-year-old “is injured and he’s in the hospital, there are some challenges in communicating with him and finding out more information,” Vainuku said.
A relative alerted police Monday after unsuccessfully trying to reach the 38-year-old woman who lived in the home, authorities said. Officers went to the house, but no one answered. They came back on Tuesday afternoon after the same relative reported finding the 17-year-old in the garage. Police are investigating inside the home and have also been talking with neighbours and looking for evidence from things like doorbell cameras, Vainuku said.
The shocking news came merely 24 hours after two people were killed and others were injured in a shooting at a private Christian school in Madison, Wisconsin. The shooting happened days before the Christmas break. Police said a student who opened fire, identified as a 15-year-old girl, was also dead. The latest shooting inside school premises has again exhibited the deadliest history of gun violence in the US.
(With inputs from agency)