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ELKTON, Md. — Two adults and three children were found shot to death Friday in a Maryland home after a man called 911 from the home to report a shooting, authorities said.
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Cecil County Sheriff Scott Adams said a man, woman and three children — in grades 5, 7 and 8 — were found Friday morning inside a large two-story home in Elk Mills. Authorities did not immediately release the identities of the victims, but said there was no ongoing threat to the public.
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The shooting happened on a cul-de-sac in an area of residential streets dotted with wooded areas about 60 miles (97 kilometers) northeast of Baltimore and a few miles west of the Delaware state line.
“It’s a terrible day and I know everyone’s prayers are appreciated. … My phone has been ringing off the hook from people who are concerned about this and upset about it,” Adams said.
“Sadness is what it is at this point,” Adams said. “Any time you have a loss to these levels. Any loss is terrible, but a loss to this level, which is not a common thing — certainly not a common thing here in Cecil County — it’s tragic and terrible and it takes people a long time to process it.”
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Deputies were called to the home shortly after 9 a.m. by a man who said three children and a woman had been shot and killed, Holmes said. Deputies entered the home and also found a man dead. A semi-automatic handgun was placed near the dead man.
The sheriff declined to say what the motive might have been. He said his office has no record of deputies answering calls to the house.
The bodies were in different places in the house. Video from the scene shows the home with cream siding and red shutters and a detached garage surrounded by police tape. There are many law enforcement vehicles at the scene.
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A neighbor, Tom Driscoll, who could see the residence where the shooting happened from his home, said a couple with three children had lived there for at least five years. He said the parents kept to themselves, but the kids once brought cookies at Christmas and would sometimes bring his dogs back if they wandered off.
He said the children were homeschooled, a detail the sheriff previously confirmed. Driscoll said he would see the two girls and one boy playing on the swing in their yard or on the trampoline.
“I don’t know why anyone would want to hurt these kids. Not really, Driscoll said. “Things must have been really bad somehow.”
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