Police responding to reports of screams and gunshots found five bodies Tuesday in a home, including those of a 10-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl.
Detective Tim Gaffney said a SWAT team forced its way into the house after getting no response from anyone inside. Along with the children, officers also found the bodies of a 32-year-old woman and those of two men, ages 30 and 18.
Police did not immediately release the victims’ names or causes of death. Sgt. Chuck Trapani said there were signs of a struggle but no signs of forced entry.
Gaffney said police in this Phoenix suburb received calls reporting gunshots and a woman screaming shortly after 2:30 a.m.
“I thought it was an explosion. It was such a rapid succession, it almost sounded like one bang,” said neighbor Dean Trulock, who didn’t call police because he thought the noise had come from a construction site.
As a precaution, officers used the phone and a public address system and knocked on the doors to try to contact anyone inside. They didn’t enter the home for several hours after the first officers arrived.
Neighbors were rattled by the discovery.
Denise Matthews, who lives next door and was among those who called 911, said her 8-year-old daughter and 14-year-old son were friends with the two children who lived in the house.
She said her son was awakened by the screaming and the sound of two gunshots.
“We’re all trying to hold on and pray,” Matthews said.
