Posted on 04/17/2015 7:15:23 AM PDT by Red Badger
PHOENIX - Five adults were found dead inside a north Phoenix home after a shooting Thursday in a suspected dispute about the family's business, police said.
Phoenix police said a dispatcher received an "unknown trouble" call around 2 p.m. and then heard gunshots in the background.
The names and ages of the three men and two women weren't immediately released. But police said the three men were brothers and the dead women apparently were the men's mother and a wife of one of the brothers.
Police said a gun was found next to one of the men who had a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Two other women and two children managed to escape the home unharmed, according to police.
Police say one of the women was hiding in the bathroom when the shooting occurred.
One of those women told officers that the shooting stemmed from a family dispute gone wrong, police spokesman Sgt. Trent Crump said.
Witnesses tell ABC15 the fight may have been over the family's limousine business.
"Our dispatcher could hear shots fired in the background while that call was coming in," Crump said. "A caller had been able to escape the home at that point, get out and start to give us information."
Crump said the family had origins in Morocco. During an hours-long standoff before the bodies were found, police used a megaphone to try to communicate with the occupants of the home, addressing the family in Arabic.
It wasn't immediately clear how many people fired shots, but police say they weren't looking for any outstanding suspects.
Officers discovered the bodies after an hours-long barricade situation in a residential neighborhood. Witnesses at the scene said they heard the sound of muted gunshots about an hour after a standoff began.
Air15 showed an armored SWAT truck outside the home and several tactical teams surrounding the home. Two officers were seen breaking through a glass door in the background while two police robots entered the front of the home.
Neighbors tell ABC15 they are saddened by the family's tragic loss, but are thankful no one else was hurt.
"It happened two doors down from us and it just blows your mind. You just wonder what it takes in a person's mind to escalate a situation to the point where they will take people's lives," said neighbor Scott Pollack.
A police perimeter remained in place well into the night, as investigators padded around the scene in booties to document evidence and detectives went door to door.
So was it the family dispute that lead to the shootings, or the police barricade?
The police barricade would not have been in place when the gunshots were heard on the 911 call.
Point taken. Thanks.
I think they were all dead before the police even showed up.........
“Police were working Friday morning with the Moroccan consulate to notify all of the victims’ relatives and were withholding their identities until they were able to do so, Crump said.”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.