Five members of the same family including a two-year-old girl were found dead alongside a 17-year-old boy with gunshot wounds.
Two adults, an 11-year-old boy, and two girls aged nine and two, were found dead at a home in Utah, according to Roxeanne Vainuku, a spokesman for the West Valley City Police Department.
Their cause of death was not immediately clear, authorities said. A 17-year-old boy with gunshot wounds was also taken to hospital.
They were found in the house in West Valley City, around nine miles south-west of Salt Lake City. The teenager was discovered in the garage.
“Absolutely horrific. This is something that certainly will weigh heavily on investigators in this case,” Ms Vainuku said at an evening news conference.
Forensics officers investigate the crime scene – Scott G. Winterton/The Deseret News
Authorities do not believe there is a suspect on the loose, and the shooting is something that was “isolated to this home,” she added.
The 17-year-old “is injured and he’s in the hospital, [and] there are some challenges in communicating with him and finding out more information,” Ms Vainuku said.
A relative alerted police on Monday after unsuccessfully trying to reach the 38-year-old woman who lived in the home, authorities said.
Officers went to the house, but no one answered.
They came back on Tuesday afternoon after the same relative reported finding the 17-year-old in the garage.