Five members of the same family were found dead in a home in Fall City, Washington. A 15-year-old boy has been arrested.
Monday, police found three children and two adults dead at the lakeside home 25 miles east of Seattle. They had been called several times to reports of a disturbance with gunshots. A sixth person, a young girl, was shot twice but got out of the house and is now in the hospital.
People who lived nearby and saw the horrible scene said the young victims were “so sweet and polite” and the killings were “unfathomable.”
At a news conference on Monday, Mike Mellis, a deputy with the King County Sheriff’s Office, said that three of the dead were young teens.
Mellis said that the shooting on Monday was a “family incident” and confirmed that the teen who was hurt and the teen who was arrested lived in the same house. But it’s still not clear how the family works in particular.
“It looks like everyone in the house was related to each other, but the exact relationships are still being looked into,” a spokesperson told The Independent.
Someone in the house could call 911. According to Fox13, a dispatcher said during the call, “They shot the other family members. I think there are five total, not counting the person who called who is hiding in the bathroom.”
Neighbors told Fox13 that the parents, who were not named, “often kept to themselves” and that the kids were homeschooled but friendly and social in the neighborhood.
Fox heard from a neighbor who said, “I only saw the kids in the driveway yesterday afternoon.” She said it had been quiet at the scene until the family got home around 4 p.m. when one of the boys could be heard playing the piano in the garage.
“I’m shocked,” Trowern said next. “I couldn’t help but cry.” I can’t help but see the kids’ faces. I don’t know what’s going on, but I know something terrible has happened there.
Press at the scene heard from another neighbor: “They were so nice and sweet.” It’s hard to understand.
Mellis told the press conference that this was “clearly a domestic violence incident involving not only a young man who is now in significant trouble but also firearms.” He also said that it wasn’t clear yet if more than one gun was used. According to the Gun Violence Archive, this is the 25th mass murder of the year.
“There was no major exchange of words with the young man who was arrested,” Mellis said. “What happened happened, it was over.”
He said that the people should not be worried and that he didn’t think there would be any more arrests.
“This horrible event happened very close to home, in a family, or in an extended family,” Mellis said. “Even though it’s bad, at least it stayed on this property.”
The suspect is scheduled to go to court on Tuesday. The King County Juvenile Detention Center is said to be where he is being held.
