5 family members found dead in Utah home, 17-year-old injured

Three children under 12 were found dead in a Utah home along with their two parents and a 17-year-old boy suffering from a gunshot wound, police said.

Officers made the grisly discovery Tuesday afternoon at a residence on Oxford Way in West Valley City, about 9 miles outside Salt Lake City. They initially responded to the home on Monday after a concerned relative told police they were having difficulty contacting a 38-year-old woman who lived there, but no one answered the door.

The relative contacted authorities again around 2 p.m. Tuesday when he discovered the injured 17-year-old in the home’s garage, police said.

At the residence, officers also found the bodies of a 42-year-old man, a 38-year-old woman, an 11-year-old boy and two girls, ages 9 and 2, West Valley City police spokeswoman Roxeanne Vainuku said. Their names have not yet been released, but a preliminary investigation suggests that all the victims belong to the same family, with the adults being husband and wife.

“Absolutely terrible,” Vainuku said. “That is something that will certainly weigh heavily on investigators in this case.”

While authorities are still trying to determine what happened inside the home, Vainuku said she does not believe the suspect is at large, adding that the incident appeared to be “confined to this home.”

The surviving teenager was taken to the hospital, where he remained Wednesday morning. Vainuku said they tried to talk to him, but there were “some challenges communicating with him and finding out more information.”

An investigation into the matter is underway.

With News Wire Services