Multiple fatalities are being reported by various news sources with as many as seven family members believed dead.
The Bureau of Criminal Investigation has a number of agents responding to the incident on Union Hill Road in Pike County according to the Attorney General’s Office.
WLWT-TV quotes a spokesperson for the BCI as saying “we are sending everybody” to the crime scene near the border between Adams and Pike County at the request of the Pike County sheriff’s office.
The Pike County Sheriff’s Office declined to comment at this time.
The incident occurred at a home in Peebles, Pike County, around 70 miles east of Cincinnati. The victims are all believed to be members of the same family, according to WCPO 9 Cincinnati.
ABC 6/FOX 28 both have news crews at the scene and the two television stations are no reporting that no less than seven are dead at three separate locations though these reports run in direct contradiction to the reportage of other local news outlets. It’s believed that a number of children are among those that have been killed in this all-too-frequent mass shooting this morning.
“The mail carrier told me there’s something seriously bad going on up the road,” nearby resident Goldie Holderbran told WCPO (Channel 9 Cincinatti) “I’m on the other side of 32 on Union Hill Road. I’m not very far.”
Peebles High School is on lockdown as a precaution, a school official said. The high school is about 10 miles from the shooting scene.
The district released a statement earlier that read:
“We’ve had lots of calls regarding the incident that happened this morning on Union Hill. The incident was in the Scioto Valley District and was on the south side of 32, not the north side (our side). THERE HAS NOT BEEN AN INCIDENT AT WESTERN. We have been in contact with the Sheriff’s Department and we are operating with precaution. We are having classes but no students are permitted outside for recess, PE, etc. We are keeping all students inside and doors are locked as always. We are taking precautions to make sure your kids are safe. We are following the procedures suggested by Sheriff Reader. I will update you as soon as I have more information.”
Multiple sources are reporting that law enforcement has a suspect and is presently looking for the shooter, but at present he is still on the loose.
As feared, it appears that five children were among those killed by this sick F**K. (Excuse me, but with each of these I write my outrage grows)
The youngest among the dead was a five-day old child with another only six months old.
“There is no suspect,” Lt. Michael Preston of the Ross County Sheriff’s Office told WKRC without providing further details. Whether or not the shooter was among the dead or remains at large was not divulged by the sheriff’s office.
The family apparently worshiped at the nearby Union Hill Church for years, according to Pastor Phil Fulton. “They kind of dropped by the wayside probably three, four years ago, maybe… The kids seemed friendly, always you know, just good kids, seemed like,” the pastor told WKRC.
“Reports we are receiving from Peebles are tragic beyond comprehension,” said presidential “hopeful” Ohio Gov. John Kasich and in a statement today.
It appears now that the shootings occurred in four locations, and in the one bright spot to this tragedy two infants did survive.
It appears that the eighth person, that is now confirmed dead in the rampage, was likely the shooter though law enforcement stopped short of saying that.
“This is not an active shooter situation, however no arrests have been made,” Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and Pike County Sheriff Charles Reader said in a joint statement.
