Five people, including two juveniles, were found dead in Minnesota, in what appears to be a quadruple murder-suicide spread across two homes.
Officers responded to a welfare check at a home on the 6000 block of Tacony Street in Duluth shortly after 2 p.m., the Duluth Police Department said in a release. An employee with the city of Superior was concerned that a coworker had not shown up for work, police said.
They found two people, 47-year-old Erin Abramson and her son, 15-year-old Jacob Nephew, dead from apparent gunshot wounds.
Police said they identified a suspect, 46-year-old Anthony Nephew, and set up surveillance at his residence, located about a mile northeast of the initial shooting scene.
Officers made entry with drones and found two more victims, 45-year-old Kathryn Nephew and her son, 7-year-old Oliver Nephew, also dead from apparent gunshot wounds.
Officers said they found the suspect there as well, deceased from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Anthony Nephew was married to Kathryn Nephew and was Oliver’s father. He was previously in a relationship with Erin Abramson and Jacob Nephew was their son, Duluth Police Chief Mike Ceynowa said at a press conference on Friday.
Ceynowa added that officers have preliminarily seen a pattern of mental health issues with Anthony Nephewy during their investigation.
There is no ongoing threat to the Duluth community, police said.
“I want to extend our heartfelt condolences to the family, friends and victims who were involved in this tragedy yesterday,” Chief Ceynowa said. “We also want to send our condolences to both the Duluth community and Superior community as this is a senseless and tragic event.” (NBC)