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5 family members fatally shot in Delaware murder-suicide

The victims were found on the second floor of a house in New Castle County. Delaware State Police said there was no concern for safety in the surrounding area.

Crime scene blurred law enforcement and forensic background
Crime scene blurred law enforcement and forensic backgroundRead moreiStockPhoto

A couple and their three young children were found shot to death in a New Castle County house, Delaware State Police say.

Police said described the deaths as a murder-suicide and said 42-year-old Matthew Edwards suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The other victims — his 41-year-old wife, Julie Edwards, and their three children — were all killed from gunshot wounds, police said.

Their bodies were found when troopers responded about 7:55 p.m. Monday to a house on the 2700 block of Ferris Road in Prices Corner.

Inside, they found the family on the second floor of the home, state police said. .

Neighbors and friends identified the children as Jacob, 6;  Brinley, 4; and Paxton, 3, First State Update and the Delaware News Journal reported.

State police said there was no concern for safety in the surrounding area.

The bodies were turned over to the Delaware Division of Forensic Science, which conducted autopsies to determine manner and cause of death for each of the victims.

6ABC reporter Jeanette Reyes reported that a neighbor said the man who lived in the house where the bodies were found had recently lost his job and appeared emotional before the day before the shooting.

Neighbors told multiple news outlets that Matthew Edwards had recently described marital problems but also described him as playing outside with his kids frequently.

"Our kids played together. We've been over to barbecues," Brian Covenko told the News Journal. "Every time he was here, he was playing with his kids. I don't know what happened inside of doors, but I know he was outside with his kids a lot."

Nina Boyer, who lives nearby and works at the daycare where two of the kids previously attended preschool, described Julie Edwards and the children as sweet and friendly.

"She would drop the kids off and an hour later I would still find her in the building talking to somebody," Boyer told the News Journal. "She was always talking to somebody. She never met a stranger. And her kids were the same way."