Sources: Tabernacle shooting may be murder-suicide attempt; 2 kids dead
"Our troopers are trained to expect the unexpected. However, a crime scene like this is impossible to prepare for."
TABERNACLE, N.J. -- A shooting at a home in a secluded wooded area of southern New Jersey left two children dead and a woman and another child wounded, state police said Thursday.
State police received a report of multiple shootings in the home on Holly Park Drive after 9 a.m. Thursday, Trooper Alina Spies said.
Inside the home, troopers found a boy and a girl dead. The injured woman and boy were taken to Cooper Hospital, where they were in critical condition, according to hospital spokeswoman Lori Shaffer.
The names and ages of the dead and the wounded were not immediately available.
The shootings occurred sometime between the overnight and 9 a.m., State Police spokesman Capt. Stephen Jones said. All the victims were related and family members had called police, Jones said. They did not hear the shots, Jones added.
The spokesman said there was no "massive manhunt" for a suspect and the public should not be alarmed.
The Burlington County community is located in the sparsely populated New Jersey Pinelands, about 30 miles east of Philadelphia.
Neighbors said they didn't know the residents in the house and didn't hear any commotion Thursday morning until troopers arrived and helicopters began hovering overhead.
It's very quiet, peaceful. You can hear a pin drop," said Mike Watson, who has lived in the neighborhood for 25 years.
The street is blocked by police tape.
No other information was immediately available.
