Five family members, including three children, were found dead in a Utah home Tuesday, and another, a 17-year-old, 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 West Valley City Police Department spokeswoman Roxeanne Vainuku. It was not immediately known how they died.
They met at the home in West Valley City, about 9 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. The teenager was discovered in the garage.
“Absolutely horrific. This is something that will certainly weigh heavily on the investigators in this case,” Vainuku said at an evening news conference.
Authorities do not believe there is a single suspect, and the shooting is something that was “isolated to this house,” he added.
Because the 17-year-old “is injured and in the hospital, there are some challenges in communicating with him and finding out more information,” Vainuku said.
“In any case where people have died, loved ones have been lost, we want to make sure that we do the absolute best job possible so that we can bring justice to the victims,” Vainuku was quoted as saying. CBS affiliate KUTV.
A family member alerted police Monday after unsuccessfully trying to reach the 38-year-old woman who lived at the home, authorities said. Officers went to the home, but no one answered.
They returned Tuesday afternoon after the same family member reported finding the 17-year-old in the garage.
Police are investigating inside the home and have also been talking to neighbors and looking for evidence from things like doorbell cameras, Vainuku said.
“Officers have also canvassed the neighborhood to gather information and any video evidence,” police said in a statement statement.
CBS affiliate KUTV informed that some neighbors said that the family had been living in that house for three or four years.