Police are investigating the deaths of four family members found with gunshot wounds in the basement of their southeastern Pennsylvania home over the weekend.
Police in Chester County responded to the West Whiteland Township home after an out-of-state relative called shortly after 12:30 p.m. Sunday to report being unable to contact the family. The bodies of a man, a woman and their two sons were found in the basement, Detective Scott Pezick said.
The Chester County coroner's office identified them as Deepak Prabakhar Kulkarni, 50, Arti Madhusudan Ayda, 47, Shubham Deepak Kulkarni, 15, and Sharvil Deepak Kulkarni, 8, all of West Whiteland Township.
All four sustained gunshot wounds, but a final determination of the cause and manner of death are pending autopsies and further investigation, the coroner's office said.
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“This terrible tragedy has annihilated a family,” Coroner Christina VandePol said, expressing sympathy to relatives and neighbors.
The family had lived in the Mountain View Drive residence for two years, although they had lived in the township prior to that, Pezick said.
“The initial investigation and evidence at the scene indicate that this incident is the result of a murder-suicide and that there is no threat to the community at large,” township police said in a statement.
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DOMESTIC VIOLENCE HELP: The National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233 or 800-787-3224 (TTY) provides people in distress, or those around them, with 24-hour support.
SUICIDE PREVENTION HELP: If you are in crisis, you can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255 or reach out to the Crisis Text Line by texting 'Home' to 741741.
