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WEST VALLEY CITY — West Valley police believe a father shot and killed his wife and three children and critically injured a teenage son before shooting and killing himself over the weekend.
The tragic discovery was made Tuesday in a home at 3761 S. Oxford Way. The bodies of the 38-year-old mother and her two daughters, ages 9 and 2, were found together in a bed in an upstairs bedroom, police said Wednesday. The bodies of the 42-year-old husband and their 11-year-old son were found in the living room.
"All of the victims appear to have suffered gunshot wounds," said West Valley police deputy communications director Roxeanne Vainuku.
A small handgun was found underneath the father's body.
"We believe this was the weapon used in the shootings. However, ballistic and forensic analysis will determine that definitively," she said.
A 17-year-old son was found inside the garage with a gunshot wound to the head. Vainuku says detectives believe the teen was shot somewhere in the house and managed to make his way to the garage. She says he has a "severe brain injury" and is unable to communicate with anyone. It was unknown Wednesday whether he will survive.
The names of the family members have not yet been released to give time for notifications to be made to relatives who may not live in Utah, Vainuku said. The shootings are believed to have happened sometime late Friday or early Saturday morning.
"We really have no motive. We understand how frustrating it is for an incident of his magnitude to happen and to not understand why. We know people want to know why. We want to know why. But the truth is we may never know. We don't have any information as to why this happened," she said. "It's hard to comprehend."
Vainuku says no note or messages have been found that would provide a possible motive and there is no history of domestic violence at that home.
West Valley police had been asked to conduct a welfare check on the family on Monday after a relative reported not hearing from the mother for several days — something the relative said was unusual.
"She said she's in regular communication with this family member, and that communication had stopped," Vainuku said.
Officers went to the residence, but no one answered. They also looked in the windows and talked to neighbors, but did not see any evidence of a crime or that the family was in danger. No neighbors reported hearing any gunshots.
"In order to be able to enter a home without a warrant, you're going to have to have proof that some sort of exigent circumstance exists," Vainuku said. "Without that evidence, it's a constitutional protection that we can't just go in and enter people's homes."
But when the mother did not show up for work on Tuesday, the relative went to the home herself and entered through the garage where she found the injured teenage boy, according to West Valley police. Officers were called back to the home about 2:10 p.m. They went into the garage where the teen was found, then entered the home and found the others.
The police investigation will now focus on ballistic testing, forensic analysis, going through electronic devices in the home and waiting for the final autopsy results.
"Our commitment is to doing the most thorough job possible, however long that takes," Vainuku said. "If there is a stone that needs to be turned you can trust our detectives will turn it."
