A teen boy was taken into custody in Washington State and will be charged with the murders of five people early Monday, including three more teens, apparently all members of his family.
A teen girl was treated on the scene by a neighbor with medical training and then taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, KOMO reported. She was said to be in satisfactory condition.
“When deputies got here they discovered sort of a chaotic scene, but what they did when they entered the property is they immediately took one young male, teenage male into custody,” King County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Office Mike Mellis said. “What they found was a mix of injured and deceased persons.”
All the victims are believed to be related to the killer, according to neighbors who told KING that a couple and their five children lived at the house. The names have not been released, and police have not revealed the relationships.
“I’m just in total shock,” neighbor Lynne Trowern said. “I keep bursting into tears. That is why I have to go to my daughter’s house because I can’t be here on my own. I just keep seeing the faces of the children.”
A spokesperson for the sheriff’s office said the suspect was a “high school-aged” teen and would be charged with first- or second-degree murder.
Mellis said that multple people called to the Lake Alice neighborhood home 911 just before 5 a.m. Monday, reporting a shooting.
“I can say that it’s going to be really a tragic event for the community, for anybody who has any connection out here,” he said.
The Snoqualmie Valley School District said at least two of the victims were “shool-age” but that none attended Snoqualmie Valley schools. Nonetheless, the district said counselors and support staff would be available all week.
Neighbors told KOMO the children were homeschooled.
“The younger kids especially, the sweetest children, so polite, homeschooled and it’s just unfathomable,” Cameron Doerrer said. “The parents probably thought they were doing the right thing by homeschooling their children, protecting them from these sort of bad things that happen to the world and here it happens right from within, I don’t even know what to think.”
Investigators said they had not been called to the home before and that the boy in custody had no criminal history.
The suspect is being held at King County’s juvenile detention facility, Mellis said. According to the county Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, the teen will make a court appearance Tuesday or Wednesday, the Associated Press reported.
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[Featured image: KOMO screenshot]
