A Montana murder-suicide is being investigated after a man killed this wife and three young children before turning the gun on himself over the weekend.
Officials told NBC News that the suspect, a man in his 50s, used a handgun to shoot his wife, and then proceeded to go after his children, ages 1, 4, and 6.
After killing his kids, police said the man then carried the bodies of all three to a bed, while leaving his 37-year-old wife dead next to the kitchen table.
The unidentified man called a friend before lighting his home on fire.
"He called and said he killed his wife and kids, and now he was going to set the place on fire," assistant police chief Bill Sather told NBC News.
After the friend dialed 911 and authorities arrived on the scene, officers had to wait an hour for firefighters to travel the dirt road to the secluded cabin. Once the blaze was put out, five bodies were recovered, including that of the husband who had apparently taken his own life.
“The home is located in a remote, rugged area, and we didn’t immediately know where it was,” said
Anaconda-Deer Lodge Police Chief Tim Barkell, according to Reuters.
Officers have yet to identify a motive for the shootings, while officials have not yet had a chance to interview the friend who made the emergency call, according to detective Steve Barclay.
“Was there anything as a community we could have done to intercept this tragedy,” a family friend wondered to NBC News.
The names of the victims and shooter are currently being withheld as police try and track down next of kin, Barkell said.
The family friend later said the husband and the family were “always outgoing, and always smiling and teasing, and they were a sold family.”
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