‘Shocking and sad’: Four found dead in Idaho home; 31-year-old detained
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KELLOGG (Spokesman Review) — Police detained a 31-year-old man following after four people were found slain in a Kellogg home Sunday evening, according to Idaho State Police.
Investigators have not released the suspect’s name but said there’s no additional threat to the community.
The Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post that the four people had been shot.
A caller told Shoshone County dispatch that multiple people had been killed at a home at 515 West Brown Ave. at about 7:20 p.m. Sunday. Officers found four dead inside.
The Kellogg Police Department requested that the state police investigate the homicides, according to a news release.
Monday afternoon, a handful of police cars sat outside the tan duplex where the bodies were found.
Mary Jane McShane, 80, was in her backyard gardening Sunday night when the shooting took place and said she didn’t hear anything. She didn’t even realize anything out of the ordinary had occurred across the street until her brother called to ask if she was OK.
“It’s normally very calm, very quiet,” said McShane, a retired nurse. “It’s shocking and sad.”
Kellogg is a small, close-knit town, McShane said.
“I never expected something like this to happen,” she said.
McShane, who spends part of the year abroad, said she always has been apprehensive about the gun culture in North Idaho, but now fears her Irish friends won’t want to come visit because of the prevalence of mass shootings.
Five people were shot Saturday night at a campground near the Gorge Amphitheatre near George, Washington, and several mass shootings were reported across the country over the holiday weekend.
Paul Roberts was having dinner at his sister-in-law’s house Sunday night across the street from Kellogg’s Mountain View Congregational Church, where he’s an associate pastor, when they heard about the shooting. It happened directly behind the church.
Roberts opened the church for police as they investigated the shooting.
As a retired high school English teacher, Roberts knows most people in town.
“I like to say that people are there for each other,” he said of the community.
He hopes the town waits until investigators release more information before spreading rumors about what happened and the people involved.
“We need to take our time and get the full story,” Roberts said.
Idaho State Patrol spokesperson Aaron Snell said Monday morning he could not answer questions about how the people died or provide additional information about the detained man.
This is a developing story and will be updated.