PEEBLES, Ohio — Seven people, including a 6-month-old child and a newborn, were found shot to death Friday in rural Ohio in what the Ohio attorney general and local sheriff said was an "execution-style killing." The victims, apparently all members of the same family, were found at three homes in the community of Peebles, 75 miles east of Cincinnati.
A joint statement by the office of Attorney General Mike DeWine and Pike County Sheriff Charles Reader, said no arrests had been made, but that the incident was not being treated as an activie shooter situation.
"The investigation is in its very early stages, and authorities are still investigating to determine a motive, identify the deceased, and determine if the gunman is among the deceased individuals or on the loose," the statement said.
Phil Fulton, pastor of the Union Hill church, said the victims were all from the same family. Circumstances surrounding the shooting were not immediately clear.
Fulton said he received the information on victims from family members and law enforcement officials. He described the victims as a woman, her adult children and two grandchildren, and the woman's ex-husband.
A Pike County victims advocate said the victims included a 6 month old and a 5 day old child.
The pastor said the mother and children used to attend services at his church but hadn’t been there for some time.
The bodies were found at several locations, according to the Adams County sheriff's office. Some media reports say bodies were found at three sites.
Dozens of officers from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation were on the scene at the request of Pike County Sheriff’s Office.
Three ambulances were parked along Union Hill Road, which winds through a rural area of farms, widely spaced houses and open fields near Peebles, a town of 1,800 people. Police erected barricades to keep out traffic. Play Video
Shootings with multiple fatalities were reported along a road in rural Ohio on Friday morning, but details on the number of deaths and the whereabouts of the suspect or suspects weren't immediately clear. AP
Several schools in the area were placed on lockdown as a precaution, although there was no immediate report that a suspect in the killings was on the loose.
The killings took place near the county line between Adams and Pike counties. Officers from both jurisdictions responded to the call, as did officers from Ross County.
In addition, the FBI office in Cincinnati tweeted it is closely monitoring the situation in Pike County and has offered its assistance.
How horrific !
