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WEST HAVEN, Weber County — A woman and three children were found dead with gunshot wounds Tuesday night inside a vehicle in Weber County, sheriff's officials said.
At 9:47 p.m., dispatchers received a call from a person who said they had found four of their family members deceased at a home in West Haven, Weber County Sheriff's Sgt. Sean Endsley said.
The deceased are a 32-year old woman, a 4-year-old boy, and two girls, ages 2 and 1 years old. All four were found dead in a vehicle with gunshot wounds, Endsley said.
It was clear the people were "beyond help" when deputies arrived, Endsley said. "At this point, the investigative phase of this case is just beginning."
Endsley said he would not provide any additional information about how the people died or any more identifying information until family members were notified of the deaths. He also declined to provide any information about whether there is a suspect or suspects; however, he did say there is no current threat to the public.
The woman was local to the neighborhood, but no further information was released about her.
The sheriff's office, Weber-Morgan Homicide Task Force and Weber Metro CSI members were still at the scene investigating late Tuesday.
Photos from the area of 1700 S. Prevedel Drive showed police tape across trees in front of a home and several emergency vehicles.
Neighbors told KSL the neighborhood is extremely safe, and they never imagined something like this would happen.
Taira Jacobson, who lives across the street, said the mother was always very kind to her and would wave and talk at the mailbox with her.
Darren King lives right next door and said this incident just blows him away.
"She seemed super, super happy. Very outgoing gal. Super nice. The kids were just fun to be around," King said.
King said the mother had recently moved back into the home to live with her father, whose wife passed away this summer.
"After he lost his wife of 50 years, and now to lose his daughter and his grandkids — his grandkids were his life," King said.
Family of the victims told KSL they are devastated and have been crying all day. The family is trying to figure out what happened.
Contributing: Alexander Campbell, Dan Rascon