4 dead in apparent murder-suicide in La Junta, Colorado

Four people, including two children, have been found dead in an apparent murder-suicide in the community of La Junta in southeastern Colorado, according to local officials.

The incident was first reported at around 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday when officers were called to a residence in the 1100 block of Smithland Avenue in La Junta, a town in Otero County, about 90 miles southeast of Colorado Springs.

When officers from the La Junta Police Department arrived at the home, they found four people suffering from gunshot wounds, including two adults and two children, according to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Two adults and one of the children were pronounced dead at the scene. The second child was rushed to a Denver-area hospital where they later succumbed to their injuries.

“Initial information indicates this was not a random incident, and that the deceased were known to one another,” CBI said in a brief statement, which provided no further details about the circumstances of the shooting.

Neighbors identified the victims as a woman and her two young children and the suspect as the woman’s ex-boyfriend. Their names were not immediately released.