Cops Believe Utah Father Shot Entire Family, Then Himself

UPDATE Dec 19, 2024 12:00 AM CST

Police believe a father shot his entire family in their Utah home before taking his own life sometime over the weekend. The sole survivor, a 17-year-old boy who suffered a brain injury, was found in the garage by a concerned relative who went to the home Tuesday after not being able to reach the family; police believe the teen was shot elsewhere in the home and managed to make it to the garage. He was shot in the head and suffered a brain injury and has been unable to communicate with police, NBC News reports. His parents and three younger siblings were found dead elsewhere in the home, and a handgun was beneath the father's body. Ballistics and other evidence will be used to confirm the police theory that the father is responsible for the murders. Neighbors tell Fox 13 the family had lived in the home three or four years and mostly kept to themselves.

Dec 18, 2024 11:35 AM CST

A couple and three children, including a toddler, have been found dead inside a Utah home, alongside a teenage survivor who was found with a gunshot wound, police said Tuesday. Details remain scarce, but police in West Valley City, a suburb of Salt Lake City, said the violence was "isolated" to a single home and "we do not believe there's a suspect on the loose," per NBC News. Police were called to the home on Monday by a concerned relative, who said she hadn't heard from a female resident for several days. No one answered the door and there was no sign of an emergency, police said. On Tuesday afternoon, however, the same relative entered the home through the garage and found a 17-year-old boy with a gunshot wound.

Police then found a 42-year-old man, a 38-year-old woman, an 11-year-old boy, a 9-year-old girl, and a 2-year-old girl dead at the scene. The 17-year-old survivor is now in the hospital. He suffered "a pretty significant injury" and is "in a condition where we've not really been able to communicate with him" so "we do not know at this point if he is a suspect in this case or if he is a victim in this case," said police rep Roxeanne Vainuku.

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After checking the home for victims and suspects, police left to await approval of a search warrant, which came shortly before 8pm Tuesday, per KUTV. Vainuku said investigators now hope to uncover evidence that "will tell us what really happened." The residence was known to be home to a couple and their four children, ages 2 to 17, per NBC. (More Utah stories.)