U.S. airman, wife and 2 young children dead in alleged murder-suicide, authorities say
Authorities said a U.S. airman in Washington state fatally shot his two young children and their mother before killing himself. The Pierce County Medical Examiner's Office identified the victims as 33-year-old Samantha Field and her children, 4-year-old Ava and 2-year-old Ashen. The alleged shooter was identified as 29-year-old Clinton Field.
Investigators told CBS Seattle affiliate KIRO-TV that Clinton Field had a past incident in which he mentioned suicide and might have been facing a pending divorce.
The Pierce County sheriff's office said early Tuesday that they found the bodies inside a home near Spanaway after Clinton called 911 reporting that he had killed his family.
Sheriff's Department spokesman Ed Troyer said that on the call, Clinton Field "thanked us for our time, but said by the time we got there he would be deceased as well, and he followed through with that."
SWAT officers arrived and tried to talk the man out of the house, but received no response.
When officers eventually entered the house, they found the bodies of the woman and the children in their beds as well as Clinton Field's body, KIRO-TV reports. All had gunshot wounds.
Police are investigating what events led up to the homicides. Troyer told KIRO-TV there had been no previous police calls at that address.
"We have obtained a little bit of information that he was upset and that he had a past incident that mentioned suicide, so he may have been being treated for that," Troyer said.
The sheriff's office said Clinton was a member of the U.S. Air Force, who was stationed at nearby Joint Base Lewis-McChord.
The News Tribune reports that Clinton Field was originally from Florida and Samantha Field was from New Hampshire.