Man fatally shoots 7 family members, including wife, 5 children before suicide in US Utah

AFP

A 42-year-old man fatally shot seven other family members, including his wife and their five children, inside their home in the US state of Utah before taking his own life, authorities said on Thursday.

Eight people were found shot to death inside a home Wednesday afternoon in Iron County's Enoch, a mostly rural and agricultural city, in the southwestern US state. Enoch is nearly 400 kilometers south of Salt Lake City, the capital city of Utah.

Police officers were summoned to the home in reference to a welfare check. Concerned family and friends contacted the police after not hearing from the victims, said the Enoch City in a news release.

"While this intense investigation is ongoing, investigators currently believe there are no suspects outstanding," said the news release, noting that the suspect is Michael Haight.

The seven victims were identified as Haight's wife, Tausha Haight, 40, Haight's mother-in-law, Gail Earl, 78, the couple's five children, including a 17-year-old girl, a 12-year-old girl, a 7-year-old girl, a 7-year-old boy and a 4-year-old boy, according to the news release.

It's unknown when the shootings happened or how long the family was dead inside the home before they were discovered, reported KUTV, a television station in Salt Lake City.

Enoch City Mayor Geoffrey Chesnut said during a Thursday press conference that the family may have been killed within the previous 24 hours, according to the report.

Tausha Haight had filed a divorce petition on December 21, 2022, which was apparently the reason her mother was staying at the residence, said the report, adding that it's unknown if the divorce played any part in a possible motive.

Iron County School District said in a letter sent to parents that "eight members of a family residing in Enoch with five students in our schools tragically passed away."

"This loss is sure to raise many emotions, concerns, and questions for our entire school district, especially our students," said the school district.

"Our hearts go out to all those affected by this senseless violence. Please keep the community of Enoch in your prayers," Utah Governor Spencer J. Cox tweeted Wednesday night.

"The president and first lady are mourning with the Enoch City, Utah community in the wake of a tragic shooting that has reportedly claimed the lives of five children and multiple adults in their family home," the White House lamented in a statement Thursday.

Too many Americans have lost loved ones or had their lives forever changed due to gun violence, and gun violence remains the leading cause of death for children in the country, the statement noted, adding that less than one month after the country marked 10 years since the Sandy Hook tragedy, another mass shooting has claimed the lives of five more children in Enoch City.

A gunman killed 20 first-graders and 6 educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012 in the second-deadliest school shooting in US history.

A record number of more than 6,000 children and teens were injured or killed in shootings in the United States in 2022, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a website that tracks gun incident trends in the country.

The website's data showed that there were more than 20,000 gun deaths, 38,300 gun injuries, and approximately 24,100 suicides in the United States last year.