SALT LAKE CITY (Utah, US), Jan 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Eight people, including five children, were found dead from gunshot wounds in a southern Utah home Wednesday, according to authorities who did not provide details or a potential motive for the killings.
The victims were found when police did a welfare check at the residence, according to a statement by officials in Enoch, a town of about 8,000 people about 240 miles south of Salt Lake City.
Police said they did not detect any threat to the public.
Enoch City Manager Rob Dotson said the deceased — 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.
The news of the slayings left community members reeling, he said.
Welfare checks based on calls to a police department are routine when individuals are not seen for extended periods of time, Dotson said.
The five children attended schools in the Iron County School District, officials said in a letter sent to parents.
Enoch, off Interstate 15 in rural Utah, just north of Cedar City and about 80 miles west of Bryce Canyon National Park, had major flooding in 2021 that caused damage to hundreds of homes.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox offered condolences in a tweet Wednesday night. — NNN-AGENCIES
