https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11366135/Two-adults-six-children-aged-one-13-dead-murder-suicide-inside-Oklahoma-house.htmlTwo adults and six children aged one to 13 are found dead 'in murder-suicide' inside burning Oklahoma house: Cops found kids dead in one room at the back, with adults found in separate room by themselves
Detectives are investigating tragedy in Broken Arrow as possible murder-suicide
Six children were found dead when emergency services rushed to a house fire
The bodies of two adults were also found in a different room in the family home
Identities of the victims have not been released but children were aged one to 13
Fire didn't appear to be cause of the deaths and guns were found in the home
By Lewis Pennock For Dailymail.Com
Published: 17:50, 28 October 2022 | Updated: 18:12, 28 October 2022
Six children, aged from one to 13, and two adults were found dead inside a burning family home in Oklahoma. Detectives believe the shocking tragedy in Broken Arrow was a murder-suicide with both adults considered suspects. None of those killed have been named. The children were the victims, Broken Arrow Police Chief Brandon Berryhill said. The causes of death are still under investigation but fire officials said it doesn't appear that anyone died because of the fire. Guns were recovered from the home, the police chief said. Chief Berryhill said: 'No one should have to face this tragedy. We have peer support teams set up, outside counseling for firefighters and families, and crews met with the chaplain team, addressing their health. This is a once in a lifetime tragedy.'
Police did not provide the identities of those killed or explain their relationships to one another. He added: 'To arrive on scene yesterday and to see the looks on our first responders' and firefighters' faces just absolutely broke my heart.'
The fire was reported at about 4pm Thursday in a quiet residential area of Broken Arrow, 13 miles southeast of Tulsa. Crews who responded found two adults dead in the front of the house with injuries that 'appeared to be criminal in nature'. The children were found in another room that had been set on fire, police said. Firefighters extinguished the blaze before police moved in and began the investigation. Catelin Powers said she was driving with her children nearby when she saw a column of smoke near her house, so she drove past to investigate. 'When I got closer to the house, I saw smoke pouring out from the very top of the house, which looked like maybe the attic,' she said.
Two men and a woman on her phone were standing in front of the house, Powers said, when another man emerged from the front door dragging an apparently unconscious, unresponsive woman. 'Her arms were flopped to her sides,' she said.
Neighbor Taylon Price, who has a five-month-old daughter, said: 'It's absolutely insane, and it’s crazy to know that it’s just down the street from my house. She was out walking her five-month-old daughter, stunned like everyone else in the neighborhood. It's very quiet, very peaceful, so for something like this to happen, it’s just insane.'
Chief Berryhill said: 'Broken Arrow stands together. We will mourn together, and in the end we will heal together. Please pray for for those who have lost their lives, and for our first responders who are dealing with a tragedy of this magnitude.'
Suspecting the woman was dead, Powers said she drove on so her children would be spared the sight. Tragedy has struck before in Broken Arrow, which is Tulsa's biggest suburb with almost 115,000 residents. In 2015, two teenaged brothers killed their mother, father, two younger brothers and 5-year-old sister at their home which was about 6 miles south of Thursday's fatal fire. The home where the 2015 killings occurred was later demolished and the site was transformed into a community park.
