An northwest Indiana man killed his wife and her three children — all under 8 years old — before turning his gun on himself in a murder suicide.
Lake Station police conducted a welfare check on Friday afternoon and found the family of five all dead from gunshot wounds, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
The deaths of Briana Payne 27; Aurorah Payne, 7; Ava Payne, 6; and Alayna Payne, 4; were ruled homicides by the Lake County Coroner’s Office.
Robert Payne, 31, also died of gunshot wounds, and his death was ruled a suicide.
“On behalf of Lake County Coroner David Pastrick and the entire staff of the Lake County Coroner’s Office, our hearts go out to the family of this extremely unfortunate and devastating tragedy,” the coroner’s office said in a statement, according to WLS. “Please hold your families and loved ones close as we mourn together as a community the loss of innocence.”
Family friend Britni Meentemeyer told the station the murder-suicide was shocking.
“Bri was … she was a kicker,” Meentemeyer said. “She was funny if you were sad, even though as she would just do something so crazy to make you laugh and then talk about it later.”
Neighbor Sandy Goodman said the family was “very nice” but that she heard people arguing at the home on Wednesday.
“I think that people would remember that, and those little girls were just so full of joy and happiness and playing. They were just awesome,” they said.
