Eight members of a family, including five children, are dead after authorities said they found them shot inside a rural Utah home on Wednesday.
Police officers made the discovery while conducting a welfare check at the home in Enoch City, according to a statement by local officials in the agricultural city northeast of Utah’s border with Nevada and Arizona, about 245 miles south of Salt Lake City.
A motive in the killings was not immediately known.
“At this time, we do not believe there is a threat to the public or that there are any suspects at large,” city officials released in a statement on Wednesday.
Neither police nor city officials could immediately be reached by USA TODAY Thursday morning.
Enoch City Manager Rob Dotson said the community was sent reeling by news of the eight bodies and that the victims, all members of one family, were well known in the southern Utah town.
“Many of us have served with them in church, in the community and gone to school with these individuals,” Dotson said in a video statement Wednesday night.
He said investigators with the Enoch Police Department and Iron County are among some of the agencies working together to determine what took place inside the home.
Dotson said it could take days before police determine who fired the shots and why.
But he said officials plan to release more information as it becomes available.
“This community at this time is hurting. They’re feeling loss, they’re feeling pain and they have a lot of questions,” Dotson added.
The five children attended schools in the Iron County School District, officials said in a letter sent to parents.
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Enoch, off Interstate 15 in rural Utah, just north of the city of Cedar City and some 80 miles west of Bryce Canyon National Park, had major flooding in 2021 that caused damage at hundreds of homes.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox offered condolences in a tweet Wednesday night.
“Our hearts go out to all those affected by this senseless violence. Please keep the community of Enoch in your prayers,” Cox wrote.
Contributing: Associated Press
Natalie Neysa Alund covers trending news for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on Twitter @nataliealund.
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