5 members of family found dead in house

Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS

Five family members, including three children, were found dead in their lakeside home in an upscale western Minneapolis suburb on Thursday in what police said appeared to be a murder-suicide.

South Lake Minnetonka police went to check on the family at 12:21 p.m. after no one was seen or heard from in days, Interim Chief Mike Siitari told The Associated Press. Siitari wouldn’t release any information on how the family members died but said there appeared to be “no threat or danger to the community.”

The children had not been in school for the past two days, Siitari said. The request to check on the family came from a co-worker of the father, he said.

Authorities did not release the identities of those killed, but the father’s business posted a notice online identifying Brian Short and his family as the victims.

Siitari said the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office was processing a “complex crime scene.”

“Obviously it’s an extremely tragic event, and it’s going to take some time to sort through,” he said.