Married Couple, Child Found Dead Inside West Virginia Home; Baby Critical

In an apparent double murder-suicide, a married couple and their child were found dead with gunshot wounds inside their home in the Mink Shoals area of West Virginia Monday.

Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office said deputies found another child, an 18-month-old, with bullet fragment injuries, reported WCHS. The child, who was in critical condition, was flown to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.

Police have not yet revealed the identities of the deceased.

According to Sgt. Brian Humphreys, spokesperson for the sheriff’s office, deputies responded to a 911 call around 11:40 a.m. Monday, which reported finding bodies at a residence in Elkdale Drive.

Officers who arrived at the location found all three dead with gunshot injuries. The deceased child was grade-school age. The youngest child may have been underneath her mother’s body, Humphreys told the reporters.

He added that evidence indicated that the man was the shooter due to the location of the weapon discovered. However, that's subject to change, depending on the investigation, he added.

"This appears to be a double-murder suicide, and that’s the way it’s being looked at right now,” he said.

Humphreys said the family hadn’t been heard from for several days, maybe as long as Friday. There is no timeline yet on how things unfolded, he said.

However, Humphreys said officers were familiar with the location as they had received seven 911 calls in the past year. "There is a history. Deputies were familiar with the location for that reason," Humphreys said.

"Some disturbances, some complaints," he said, adding that there were shots fired calls.

Though the man was arrested for domestic violence in February, the charges were dismissed in June after the victim failed to turn up for the hearing, the officer said. The criminal complaint read that officers were called to the home by the woman, stating her husband was "putting his finger in her face and then tackled her to the ground and began to pull her hair."

Meanwhile, the incident has left the neighbors shocked. Ruby, who lives nearby, told MetroNews that she left to run errands on Monday morning, and when she came back in the afternoon she could not believe the police presence. "I felt unbelief, unbelief,” she said. “It’s beautiful here. It’s quiet. Nobody bothers anybody," she added.