A family of five, including two children, was found dead Tuesday in southeast Orlando in an apparent murder-suicide, police say.
Police discovered the bodies of three adults and two children after entering the house during a welfare check around 1 p.m. local time, according to the Orlando Sentinel. The deaths prompted a large police response, with around 35 vehicles arriving at the home by late afternoon, one neighbor told the outlet.
Orlando Police Department spokesperson Andrea Otero did not confirm the identities of the family members, their cause of death, nor what led to the killings, the outlet noted. Justin Rossilini, a neighbor, informed reporters that the family moved into the home around two months ago.
Neighbors of the Lake Nona home where 5 people were found dead in an apparent murder suicide say a family had just moved in 2 months ago. They say a middle age couple, their adult son and their 2 young daughters were renting the house. Police are not yet identifying the victims. pic.twitter.com/N0Gaaxv6JW
— Amanda Dukes (@AmandaDukesWESH) August 3, 2022
Rossilini knew something was wrong when he noticed a crime scene investigator appeared to be upset, according to Fox 35. “The gentleman that came out threw up and sat in the back of the truck and had a cigarette and I said you do a job that most people never do, and I applaud what you do,” Rossilini noted. (RELATED: REPORT: Coroner Says He Cried, Couldn’t Eat For A Week In Most Heinous Crime He’s Ever Seen)
The residents were reportedly a middle-aged couple who had a 22-year-old son and two small girls around the age of six or seven. They were apparently renting the property and had moved to the area from out of state, another neighbor told WESH.
“It’s important that leaders come out and begin to understand there’s something going on with the mental health of the community… We don’t want this to be repeated,” Orange County commissioner Maribel Gomez Cordero told the Orlando Sentinel.