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Five people are dead, including three young children, after what police are calling a murder-suicide shooting at a church in Sacramento, California.
David Fidel Mora-Rojas is believed to have shot his three children, all under the age of 15, as well as a fourth individual, before killing himself, according to the Sacramento County sheriff’s office.
Shots rang out around 5pm in the Arden-Arcade neighbourhood of Sacramento, police added. Other congregants or church employees were on the scene when the shooting took place.
Officials have not disclosed the identity of the fifth victim.
No one was transported off-site for medical care, indicating all five people were pronounced dead on the scene, according to officials.
The mother of the children is not yet known to have been notified of the killing, though police said they would send a chaplain to deliver the news once she was located.
Officers from the Sacramento Police Department, Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, and California Highway Patrol are all on the scene of the shooting, which police say they are considering a “domestic violence” incident for the time being. A SWAT team is also present.
Police were called to the scene Monday evening when a church employee heard shooting in the main sanctuary of the building.
“They heard a shot, and then more shots,” sheriff’s office spokesperson Rob Grassman told reporters.
Authorities will be on the scene, near Sacramento’s Arden Fair mall, through the night.
Police have not identified what type of weapon was used in the shooting.
There is no apparent threat to the public, and the violence was “contained” inside the church where the shooting took place, according to the sheriff’s office.
A coroner will likely examine the five deceased before their identities are fully released to the public.
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