By Michelle Rindels,
A 34-year-old officer with a
small Utah police department shot and killed his wife, mother-in-law and two
young children and turned the gun on himself, authorities said Friday.
Spanish Fork police said the
five were found dead about 11 p.m. Thursday, when co-workers reported Joshua
Boren didn't show up for his night shift as a patrol officer at the Lindon
Police Department.
Police who looked through the
window saw blood on the carpet and shell casings in the front room of the
two-story home, police said. When they went inside, they found Boren's
55-year-old mother-in-law Marie King dead in a bedroom, and Joshua Boren and
his immediate family dead in the bedroom next door.
The other victims were
identified as Kelly Boren, 32, Joshua "Jaden" Boren, 7, and Haley
Boren, 5.
Spanish Fork Lt. Matthew Johnson
said the couple had been experiencing marital problems in the past few months,
but co-workers say Boren appeared upbeat and didn't show signs of distress
before the killings.
"There were no warning
signs," Johnson said, adding that police had never been called to the
home. "This was a total shock to everyone."
Officials said they didn't find
a suicide note. Police didn't immediately have information on the events
leading up to the shooting.
Spanish Fork is a city of about
36,000 people located 9 miles south of Provo, home of Brigham Young University.
Officials at the Lindon Police Department said Boren worked for the Utah County
Sheriff's Office for more than seven years before he was hired in October from
a pool of more than 70 applicants.
"His conduct, behavior and
professionalism were exemplary," Lindon Police Chief Cody Cullimore said
in a statement. "We are working closely with the Spanish Fork Police
Department to investigate and hopefully come to an understanding of this tragic
occurrence."
The Lindon department counts
about 15 uniformed officers and patrols a city of about 10,000.
The five deaths come just days
after another Utah murder-suicide that left three people dead.
Kyler Ramsdell-Oliva, 32,
fatally shot her two daughters, 13-year-old Kenadee Oliva and 7-year-old
Isabella Oliva, on Tuesday evening before killing herself at their home in
Syracuse, police said.
The murder-suicide happened a
day after the Ramsdell-Oliva's fiance packed up to move out of the house,
authorities said.
