ANCHORAGE, Alaska — State troopers found four children dead in a Fairbanks-area home this week in an apparent homicide and suicide, the agency said.
Troopers received a report of shots being fired at a home in the Skyridge Drive subdivision in the Fairbanks area on Tuesday afternoon, the agency wrote in an online report.
When troopers arrived, they found four children dead from apparent gunshot wounds, according to the report. They also found three other children in the home who were not injured, troopers said.
According to troopers, a 15-year-old boy had shot three of his siblings before shooting and killing himself. Troopers said the teen was found dead with what they determined to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
All seven children found in the home are siblings, troopers spokesman Tim DeSpain said.
The three siblings who troopers believe were shot and killed by the 15-year-old boy were 5, 8 and 17 years old, DeSpain said.
The children’s parents weren’t home at the time the shootings took place, troopers said. The children’s bodies have been sent to the State Medical Examiner Office, and troopers wrote that the Office of Children’s Services has been notified of the incident.
DeSpain said the firearm used in the incident was a family gun, but he did not have additional information about how it was accessed or whether it was secured. That’s all part of the ongoing investigation, he said.
Troopers continue to investigate the shooting.
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