The family was found dead Sunday afternoon in what police are investigating as a murder-suicide, according to a report. Both parents, ages 50 and 47, and their two sons were found by police fatally shot in their basement.
A Pennsylvania family of four was found dead Sunday afternoon in what police are investigating as a murder-suicide, according to a report. Both parents, ages 50 and 47, and their two sons were found by police fatally shot in their basement in West Whiteland Township, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
The mother's siblings grew concerned after not hearing from their sister for several days, the outlet reported.
They decided to drive from New Jersey to the family's home, but when their knocks went unanswered they called the police, asking for them to conduct a welfare check, police told the Inquirer.
When cops went inside, what they found was a gruesome scene and all four family members dead from gunshot wounds.
Family members were able to identify the victims on Monday as Deepak Kulkarni, 50, the mother Arti Adya Kulkarni, 47, Shubha, 15, and Sharvil, 8, WPVI reported.
Detective Scott Pezick told the outlet that the department is still looking at who is responsible for the killings, although they suspect the incident was a murder-suicide.
"There's no indication that anything that happened was caused by somebody outside of that residence," West Whiteland Township Police Detective Pezick told WPVI.
District Attorney Deborah Ryan expressed her sympathies to the family in a statement Monday, saying her thoughts “[go] out to the family for their unimaginable loss.”
“This is a tragedy beyond comprehension because two children and both their parents are dead. These were members of our community,” Ryan told the Inquirer. “We will do everything in our power to learn why this horrific incident happened.”
Neighbors told the outlet that the family had lived in the home for nearly two years. They, too, were rattled by the news.
“It’s just sad, and I just wish we could’ve done something,” Karen Stankeiwicz, a neighbor who lived two doors down, told the Inquirer. “It makes us all want to reach out to our neighbors to see if they need anything.”
The West Whiteland police and Chester County District Attorney's Office are continuing to investigate the case.
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