CLINTON, NC – In Clinton, North Carolina, five individuals were discovered shot dead inside a residence. The grim discovery was reported to the police shortly after midnight on Thursday, according to a news release from the Sampson County Sheriff’s Office.
The alert came from a 911 caller who had spoken to one of the victims around 11:00 p.m. the previous night. The caller, whose identity remains undisclosed, stumbled upon the lifeless bodies while passing by the house on their way home, as detailed in the news release.
The five deceased individuals, comprising one woman and four men, all bore gunshot wounds. They represented diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds and spanned a wide age range, from their 30s to their 80s. The nature of their connections is yet to be confirmed, and their identities are being kept confidential until their families can be notified, according to the sheriff’s office.
Currently, authorities have not identified a person of interest in this tragic incident. Investigative efforts are underway, with authorities meticulously processing the crime scene and pursuing potential leads, as mentioned in the news release.
Notably, the authorities have stated that these deaths are unrelated to two other incidents in the vicinity during the same night. At approximately 1:40 a.m., police fatally shot an assault suspect who had pointed a firearm at officers responding to a disturbance call. Later, at 6:45 a.m., another call led police to a residence where a man was found deceased, bearing injuries consistent with an edged weapon.
Eric Pope, the Sampson County Sheriff’s Office public information officer, expressed the unprecedented nature of the morning’s events, emphasizing that such occurrences are not typical for their community or any community, and are profoundly distressing.