PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Officers discovered three people dead Friday afternoon while responding to a domestic violence complaint in Kelso, Wash., according to police.
Authorities say they received the complaint involving a gun around 12 p.m., and arrived to find the victims dead at the scene.
Bruce Johnson, a neighbor who lives one street over from the home, said he was doing yard work around 12 p.m. when he heard “three loud cracks real quick in a row, like ‘bang, bang, bang.’” He said the three shots were followed by a pause and two more.
Johnson said he immediately left his yard to find the source because hearing gunshots in the area is very uncommon.
“So I’m walking back a little bit and all of a sudden the cops come in – quite a few of them all at one time,” he said. “And I’m thinking, ‘Oh this doesn’t look good.’”
It is still unclear what led to the triple killing in broad daylight, but Johnson said he believes the three people likely knew one another.
“The information is not out yet. But we know that people died there. And I know that there was an older couple that lived there. And apparently their grandson was living there,” he said. “Well, we just put two and two together. It’s just another tragedy in a regular neighborhood.”
Neighbors say the owners were a retired couple who were friendly and passionate about maintaining their property.
Police have not released any details about those involved, but have said they are not actively searching for additional suspects.
“The scene is contained and all involved parties are believed to be accounted for,” said Captain Rich Fletcher of the Kelso Police Department. “There does not appear to be any outstanding suspects or any threat to the community.”
But for neighbors like Johnson, the incident alone is a sign of a deeper threat facing his community and others.
“This is happening too much in our country. It seems like every day you hear something going on, and now it’s in your own neighborhood. You can’t escape it,” Johnson said. “With all the proliferation of guns, we keep pushing it under the rug, and [when] somebody’s angry, they go and get one of those guns and they commit a horrendous crime.”
KOIN 6 reached out to Kelso police for an interview, but they declined because, as of Friday night, they have no additional updates.
Stay with KOIN 6 as this story develops.
