Cops: Va. family of 5 shot dead in apparent murder-suicide

CULPEPER, Va. - Police say a family of five, including 3 children, has been found shot to death at a home in Virginia in an apparent murder-suicide.

Detective Angela Deavers with the Culpeper County Sheriff's Office said the victims were two adults, both 35 years old, and three children. Deavers said a family member discovered the bodies at the home in Culpeper, a town of about 15,000 people 70 miles southwest of Washington.

The case is being investigated as a murder-suicide, Deavers said.

Deavers said she did not have many details about the victims, but two of the children killed were elementary school-aged and the third was middle school-aged.

Deputies arrived at the scene around 10 p.m. Sunday, Deavers said, after the relative found the bodies.

Virginia State Police are assisting in the investigation.

The three-bedroom house sits on about an acre of land just outside the town limits of Culpeper, according to Culpeper County property records.

"This is definitely a shock to the community, for sure," Culpeper Mayor Michael Olinger said. "Very seldom do we have a murder in Culpeper or any kind of activity such as this."

He said he did not know the victims.