Domestic Shooting Leaves 4 Wounded in Wis.

(AP)  Four people, including two children, were wounded early Saturday at a duplex in what investigators described as domestic shootings.

Madison police said they didn't know what prompted the shootings and were waiting Saturday afternoon to talk to the victims, who were still emerging from surgery.

"I have four injured people and we don't have a straight story on what happened," Sgt. Phil Moore said.

A 42-year-old woman, 38-year-old man, 7-year-old-boy and 8-year-old girl were taken to a local hospital with gunshot wounds, Moore said. They all lived together in the duplex, but Moore didn't elaborate on their relationships or identify them by name.

One victim ran across the street and called police about 6:20 a.m. Saturday, Moore said. Police recovered all the weapons involved, including at least one firearm, he said.

He declined to provide other details, but said everyone involved in the shootings had been identified and there was no threat to the community.

The white, single-story duplex sits in a neighborhood of modest multiunit apartments on Madison's southwest side. Police cordoned off the home with crime scene tape and spent a crisp, sun-splashed morning gathering evidence as neighbors watched.

Carmella Harris said she was a friend of the couple, although she knew them only by their first names. The children were theirs, she said.

Harris, who lives elsewhere in Madison, said she had learned recently the couple had moved to the neighborhood. She stopped by Saturday to see them and saw the police cars and reporters.

The man lost his construction job months ago, and the woman works as a nurse at a Madison nursing home, Harris said. The two argued but didn't fight, she said. Still, she said the man sounded fine when she spoke to him on the phone Friday. She cried when she learned of the shootings.

"I can't even swallow it," she said. "I can't imagine either one of them doing anything to each other or their children."

Neighbor Tiffany Driver said she knew the woman and her children.

"That's bogus," Driver said of the shootings. "She didn't even smoke cigarettes. She works and takes care of her kids. She always had a smile on her face. She didn't do no harm to anybody."

Another neighbor, George Williams, said he and his wife moved to Wisconsin from Chicago years ago to escape gunplay and drugs. Now they're right back in it, they said.

"You shouldn't have to watch your kids out in your yard just to be scared for them," Williams said as he watched police work. "Can't we just get together and talk? It would stop a lot of stuff."

[brianbwb-2009]

One wonders for a hot second why the neos aren't calling the perp a "terrorist", then one realizes the answer.

[ffoulkes-2009]

Well...one thing...he isn't reported to have contact with known terror supporters. He isn't reported to have screamed Allah is great as he opened fire...He killed his own family, not someone else's...You know...basically he proved he is a nutcase rather than a terrorist.

[bankersvox]

Excuse me ? That is an insult to the men and women who put their lives on the line everyday to fight Islamic Radicals, and all the people that died on 911 and at Fort Hood, USS Cole, in NYC Empire SB attack, in SF attack on the street, at LAX, in San Diego, also numbered recruiters killed at duty, Amreicans killed in Bali, India hotel innocents killed, American reporters and others who have been tortured and killed, and more. How dare you insult

[bill0bob]

The NUMBER ONE fatal use of guns in the USA is suicide. NUMBER TWO is killing your wife/husband/gf/kids/etc. "Self defense" is so far down the list that it's hardly worth mentioning. These people were LUCKY, because no one got killed -- this time. But if they keep having guns, it's just a matter of time.

[ffoulkes-2009]

Just a matter of time??? Of the MILLIONS of people who own guns, VERY few will EVER use them against a human being be it accidental or purposeful. Of those that DO use guns against a human being, MOST (52%) use them on themselves. Of the remaining ones, there are all the other categories including accidental shootings and murders.

The total number of people killed by a firearm including self-inflicted is less than the number of people dying from medical malpractice each year...BAN them doctors!!!

Approximately half the households in the USA have at least one firearm in them. That leaves a whole lot of households where the firearms do no harm.

[howbizarre]

ffoulkes-2009: OK, but let's provide some additional statistics. How do you define medical malpractice? How many people's lives did doctors save? How many times did a gun in a civilian's hands save a life?

[ddog88]

Thankfully nobody got killed. Isn't it about time to have a reality show where all the wanna be mass murders get together and blow each other up. Are peeps just getting crazier and crazier?