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Woman and her 3 young children found shot to death in a car in Utah

Gun violence declared a public health crisis
U.S. surgeon general declares gun violence a public health crisis 02:04

A woman and her three children were found shot to death in a car in Utah. Authorities said they do not believe there is any ongoing threat to the public but haven't said what they believe happened.

A family member called 911 just before 10 p.m. Tuesday to report finding the four people dead in a vehicle at a residence in West Haven, a city near Ogden and north of Salt Lake City, Weber County officials said in a news statement. Weber County sheriff deputies said when they arrived they found the four people — a 32-year-old woman, a 4-year-old boy, a 2-year-old girl and a 1-year-old girl — dead inside the car.

Their names were not made public. Deputies said they found evidence of gunshot trauma, but the cause of death was still under investigation. 

The deaths were reported one day after an 8-year-old boy in Lehi, south of Salt Lake, accidentally killed himself when he got ahold of a loaded gun left in the car while his mother was inside a convenience store. The gun was underneath the car's seat, police said. Utah does not require unattended firearms to be stored in a certain way or require a locking device to be sold with a firearm.

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