Five people were fatally shot in a murder-suicide involving family members who lived together at a house in south-central Georgia, the authorities said Saturday.
The shooting was related to domestic violence, officials said at a news conference. The identities of the victims were not released and the police did not provide details about who might have carried out the shooting, which took place Friday night in Douglas, Ga.
Chief Brannen Pruette of the Douglas Police Department said that a few hours before the shooting, a woman — whom he referred to as “the wife, the female victim,” — called to complain about her husband who had been smoking in the house on Robin Lane.
She said “he was killing her with the smoke,” Chief Pruette said.
When officers responded to reports of shots fired at the house, they found four adults dead inside, and a fifth adult wounded. That person was taken to a hospital and later pronounced dead, officials said. While the police said whoever carried out the shooting was dead, it was not clear whether it was one person or multiple people who opened fire.
Chief Pruette said there was no threat to the public associated with the shooting. Aside from noting that the killings were related to domestic violence, he did not offer details about a possible motive.
The shocking burst of violence in Douglas, a small community of about 12,000 roughly 200 miles southeast of Atlanta, left investigators and city leaders searching for answers.
“This devastating loss of life has shaken our community and left families, friends and loved ones facing unimaginable grief,” Mayor Tony Paulk said at the news conference. He added, “No words can adequately express the sorrow surrounding such a tragedy.”
Chief Pruette said the victims’ bodies would be taken to the Georgia Bureau of Investigations crime lab for autopsies.
A similar shooting occurred elsewhere in the country on Friday night. In Erie, Pa., eight people were killed in a residential area, and a shooter was found dead, officials said.
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