US police believe a man shot dead his five children in their home and killed himself after finding out his wife was leaving him for another man.
The bodies of James Harrison’s children were found yesterday in the family’s mobile home in Graham, 15 miles southeast of Tacoma in Washington State.
Harrison had been found earlier in the day, dead of a self-inflicted gunshot,in his car in Auburn, about 18 miles north of Graham.
The family has not been named officially, but relatives have identified those killed as the Harrisons.
The man and his 16-year-old daughter had found his wife with another man at a store in Auburn on Friday night, Pierce County Sheriff spokesman Ed Troyer said.
Investigators believe the father later killed his children and returned to the area near the store looking for his wife. His body was found near the store, Mr Troyer said. He left no suicide note.
Four of the children were shot in their beds and the fifth was shot in the bathroom, police said.
A neighbour said he called the emergency services at about 3.20pm yesterday after one of the Harrisons’ relatives couldn’t get anyone to answer the door.
Today the mobile home where the five children, aged between seven and 16, were killed became a makeshift memorial as neighbours left cards and bouquets of flowers.
The shooting spree is the third over recent days in the United States. A gunman in the town of Binghamton, New York, killed 13 people and wounded five at an immigrant advice centre before shooting himself dead last Friday.
On March 29th, a heavily armed man burst into a North Carolina nursing home killing eight people before being shot and wounded by a policeman.
Earlier that month, on March 10th, a 28-year-old man kill 10 people, including his mother, other relatives and a small child, in a shooting rampage in March through two counties in Alabama.
Last December, a man dressed as Santa Claus opened fire at a Christmas party being given by his former wife in Covina, California, killing nine people before shooting himself.
Some criminologists suggest the recent spate of shootings could be linked to the recession and the impact of job losses on personal finances and relationships.
Additional reporting PA