Washington (AFP) – A gunman shot at least seven people execution-style at three homes in the midwestern US state of Ohio on Friday before possibly turning the gun on himself, officials said.
The victims included five adults and two youths, all possibly members of the same family, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and Pike County Sheriff Charles Reader said, adding that an eight body had been found at a fourth location.
It was not immediately clear if the eighth body was the shooter, though DeWine and Reader indicated in a joint statement that there was no “active shooter” and no arrests have been made.
“Authorities are still investigating to determine a motive, identify the deceased, and determine if the gunman is among the deceased individuals or on the loose,” the statement said.
The killings took place in Pike County, a rural community about 80 miles (130 kilometers) east of Cincinnati.
More than a dozen agents from the Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) responded to the scene.
“This is a horrible, horrible tragedy,” local television station WLWT reported DeWine as saying.
“It looks like two teenagers dead and it looks like young, young children who must have been there when it occurred.”
Ohio Governor and Republican presidential candidate John Kasich said the situation was “beyond comprehension.”
“We’ll continue to monitor this closely and the state will work w/ local law enforcement however we can,” he tweeted.
Schools in Pike County and surrounding areas were earlier placed on lockdown as a precautionary measure, WLWT reported.
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