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8 people, including 7 family members, killed in Ohio mass shooting

Ambulances stand by on Union Hill Road in Peebles, Ohio, Friday, April 22, 2016.

 

Eight people were found shot to death Friday in the US state of Ohio in what officials said were "execution-style killings" at several homes.

Seven of the victims were believed to be from the same family and were found at three houses, according to a statement from Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and Pike County Sheriff Charles Reader.

Officials said the eighth body was found at a fourth location. The connection between the shooting sprees and the eighth victim was not immediately clear.

While the official statement said no arrests had been made and that the incident was not viewed as an active shooter situation, it said investigators were still attempting to "determine a motive, identify the deceased, and determine if the gunman is among the deceased individuals or on the loose."

Dozens of officers from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation were sent to the scene at the request of the Pike County Sheriff’s Office.

Police quickly erected barricades to keep out traffic. Several schools in the area were placed on lockdown as a precaution.

Ohio Governor and Republican presidential candidate John Kasich called the situation “beyond comprehension” and said the state is working with local law enforcement.

The United States is by far the global leader in mass shootings, with five percent of the world’s population but with nearly a third of all gun-related massacres in the last 50 years, a recent study has found.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC), firearms are the cause of death for more than 33,000 people in the United States every year, a number that includes accidental discharge, murder and suicides, which are on the increase.


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