Police suspect Utah father killed his wife and 3 kids, wounded son, then killed himself

Five people were found dead in a Utah home after a man apparently shot his wife and four children before killing himself, police said Wednesday. A 17-year-old boy survived but has a severe brain injury.

Police believe the shooting in a split-level house in a Salt Lake City suburb happened over the weekend. The victims weren't found until Tuesday, however, when a relative who’d been unable to reach the family went inside.

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The woman found the badly wounded teen in the garage. Arriving officers then found the mother, 38, and two girls, ages nine and two, dead upstairs together in the same bed.

An 11-year-old boy was found dead in a downstairs living room with his father. A handgun underneath the 42-year-old man led police to believe he was the shooter.

Investigators believe the surviving teenage son made his way to the garage after being shot elsewhere.

“The father likely shot all of the members of the family and then himself,” West Valley City Police Department spokeswoman Roxeanne Vainuku said at a news conference.

Neighbors hadn't reported any gunshots in the area over the weekend. They had no previous reports of domestic violence or other disturbances involving the family. So far, there was no note or other evidence pointing to a motive, Vainuku said.

“It’s certainly hard for our community to comprehend,” she said.

Police investigate a crime scene where they say multiple family members were found dead inside a home in West Valley City, Utah, Tuesday Dec. 17, 2024. (Scott G. Winterton/The Deseret News)

The relative had called police on Monday night because she'd been unable to get ahold of the mother for several days, despite usually having regular contact with her, Vainuku said.

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Officers looked in windows and spoke to neighbours, but did not find any indications of an emergency or a crime so they asked the family member to keep in contact, she said. After the mom didn't show up for work on Tuesday, the family member entered the home.

“As we know, adults have the right to do what they want to do and they don't have to communicate with their family members if they don't want to,” Vainuku said Tuesday. “So that is kind of a tricky balance in protecting people's rights to do what they want to do but also acknowledging the concerns of family members.”

This Utah case is the 38th mass killing in the United States this year. At least 165 people have died this year in U.S. mass killings, which are defined by the FBI as cases in which four or more people die within a 24-hour period, not including the killer.