A Tennessee mother and four of her children were found dead in their Columbia home in what police believe is a murder-suicide.
The Columbia Daily Herald reports that emergency responders arrived to the home following a report of a shooting Monday evening and found a mother and four of her children dead. District Attorney General Brent Cooper told the newspaper that the deceased children were 7 to 16 years old, and that an elder sibling called police after they arrived to the home to find the mother dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The identities of the mother and the children have not yet been released, and police are still investigating the tragedy.
“We are currently investigating the death of five individuals,” Maury County Sheriff Bucky Rowland told the Columbia Daily Herald.
“We don’t believe we have a suspect at large at this time, but we are going to be thorough with this investigation. We won’t leave anything uncovered, and we will find all of the answers we need.”
Maury County Sheriff's Office investigating five dead, four children in apparent murder-suicide https://t.co/ILXysZP6VM pic.twitter.com/6XsG3kVwy8
— Cool Springs TN (@CoolSpringsTenn) October 16, 2018
According to WYMT, the sheriff said that the deceased children were homeschooled, and that police did not have any records of previous incidents at the home.
The Maury County Sheriff’s Department posted a statement on social media:
“MCFD was dispatched at 6:19 p.m. to a reported shooting call on Carters Creek Pike. Arriving units staged for PD, and it became apparent this was a police matter/investigation scene. Units remained on scene to help restrict access …Our thoughts and prayers are with our law enforcement, EMS, and dispatch partners having to deal with this tragedy as well as family and friends of those of the family.”
This is a developing story. CrimeOnline will provide updates when more information is available.
