Vancouver man allegedly kills family, texts relative he 'harmed others' before fatally shooting himself

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VANCOUVER, WASHINGTON: Five people were discovered dead in their home in Clark County on the afternoon of Sunday, December 3, as per the New York Post.

Officials suspect it to be a case of murder-suicide, with the father allegedly shooting and killing his wife, two daughters, and his brother before taking his own life.

The names of the deceased have not been released as officers are awaiting the results of the autopsy and notifying other members of the family.

Officers were called for a welfare check over a worrying text

Deputies of the Clark County Sheriff's Office were called to a home on Northeast 92nd Street for a welfare check by an unnamed person close to the family at about 1 pm on Sunday.

The person had reportedly received a text message from a member of the family saying that they "harmed others" in the house.

Sgt Chris Skidmore, the public information officer at the Sheriff's Office, told KGW8 that the message was sent in the morning, while the deputies were called in the afternoon.

Based on the time that elapsed, officials believed the house to be a crime scene rather than an active crime situation and waited for a search warrant from a judge.

"If (deputies) had an exchange with somebody at the residence, then we may have — or if we hear someone screaming for help, that creates exigency right away, and of course, deputies are going to go in and deal with that and try to take care of it, if someone is at risk right then and there," explained Skidmore.

He added, "Versus where they come and on scene there's no signs, no lights, not like anybody's home … they’ve made attempts to loud hail, and then they start working that and slowing that down because the concern about somebody being a threat immediately kind of lessons a little bit."

How did officials approach the Clark County residence?

After getting to know about the possibility of the involvement of firearms, the Southwest Washington Regional SWAT team was called in.

"In that kind of situation, we are not just going to go and knock up on the door. Obviously, some investigative search that goes into that, trying to locate what’s in the house, who might be there, attempts to contact victims once we kind of had that information," noted Skidmore.

The deputies used a drone to look inside the residence and observed the occupants appearing to be dead. SWAT and medics then entered the building to confirm five people, including the shooter, were deceased.

Neighbors talk about witnessing the SWAT operation

Lilly Lewis and J D Hartman, two neighbors of the family, retold their experience to KGW8. They had come out to see what was unfolding when they heard police speaking over megaphones.

"We saw the police presence and the SWAT team already out here … they had the road blocked off on the other side of the house. We just kind of came out and watched, and we pretty much sat here for two hours just trying to see what was going to happen or what was going on," said Hartman.

It took officers an hour to break the door and send in the drone, followed by a large group, as per Lewis.

"Once they tried to do that first breach and they came straight back out, we all kind of put two and two together and realized that something really wrong was going on," added Hartman. 

He added, "Once they brought the drone out and we heard the glass, breaking and stuff like that … and once the loudspeaker stopped, we all really knew that something terrible had happened."