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Mom, two kids found dead in apparent murder-suicide: Police

Investigators work at the scene of a home in suburban Phoenix, Arizona, where multiple bodies were found on Tuesday, July 26, 2016. (Arizona Republic)

A US mother has shot dead her two children before taking her own life at an Arizona home in an apparent murder-suicide, authorities say.

Police found the bodies of the mom and her 17-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter on Tuesday inside their home in suburban Phoenix.

Officials believe the case to be a murder-suicide, but are awaiting autopsy results before they can make a final determination on the deaths.

“We're almost sure this is a murder-suicide, but we haven't closed the case,” Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said. “We're leaving a little part open just in case someone else could have caused these three deaths.”

Authorities were notified of the case by a family friend who called them to report suspicious activity at the house, Arpaio said.

The neighbor reported seeing a parked car with a hose running from its exhaust pipe into a window of the two-story home, he said.

“We're pretty sure that the mother killed her kids and then herself, at this point,” Arpaio said.

“It's a sad situation. Domestic violence is something we have to look into. … It's a big problem facing our county and our country,” he said.

He said that the county medical examiner’s office will determine whether the children died from gunshot wounds or carbon monoxide from the car's fumes.

The woman was identified as Lisa Gerhart aged 45-46, but the names of her two children were not released.

Police have contacted Gerhart’s husband, who neighbors said had recently moved out of the family’s home.

Investigators believe that the couple were having marital problems and might have been living separately before the incident took place.


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