Shooting unfolded at home in Fall City, Washington
A teen in Washington state is in custody after authorities say a domestic violence incident inside a home left five family members shot dead and a sixth wounded on Monday.
Deputies responded around 5 a.m. to reports of a shooting at a home in Fall City and immediately took one teen into custody while another injured teenager was taken to a Seattle hospital, King County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Mike Mellis said at a media briefing Monday afternoon.
Deputies entered the home and discovered the bodies of two adults and three juveniles.
"Once bodies were discovered, clearly we understand that this is a hugely significant crime scene," he said.
One teen was taken into custody and a second teen was hospitalized with gunshot wounds. Deputies found three other juveniles and two adults dead at the scene. (FOX13 Seattle KCPQ)
A teen girl who was shot twice had escaped and ran to neighbors for help. She was taken to Harborview Medical Center, where medical officials said she was in "satisfactory condition," FOX13 Seattle reported.
"I only saw the children in the driveway yesterday afternoon," neighbor Lynne Trowern told the outlet. "I’m shocked. I kept bursting into tears."
The shooting happened in the Lake Alice neighborhood of Fall City, Washington, early Monday. (FOX13 Seattle KCPQ)
A former neighbor told FOX13 that the children were all polite and were homeschooled. Others described how the children used to help their parents and neighbors with home projects and how the family used to walk around the lake nearly every day.
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Mellis said the shooting appeared to involve members of a family, though investigators didn't yet know how they were related.
Police described the shooting as a domestic violence incident. (FOX13 Seattle KCPQ)
King County Councilmember Sarah Perry said in a statement that her "heart aches for the lives lost," saying that "five family members, out of seven, were tragically killed."
"Early this morning, we learned about a terrible situation in the Lake Alice neighborhood of Fall City, in which five family members, out of seven, were tragically killed," she wrote.
King County Sheriff Patti Cole-Tindall told reporters that the shooting left her "very sad, very disturbed."
"I know that my team will do an excellent job by investigating this, and we will determine the facts related to this incident, but that could take several days, weeks, months," Cole-Tindall said.
