A woman and two children were killed and another woman and child critically injured outside the city of New Orleans in what authorities are investigating as a triple homicide a sheriff's spokesman said Wednesday.
Deputies found the victims inside a home in Terrytown just after 7 a.m. Wednesday, Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office spokesman Jason Rivarde said. The injured were taken to a hospital. Rivarde said authorities weren't ready to release cause of death or say whether any weapons were used, and he said no suspects have been identified yet.
He did not release the victims' identities and said he had no information on the ages and sexes of the children. A man who said he was the father of the injured woman stood outside the house late Wednesday morning wrapped in a gray blanket to ward off the cold.
Emmett Rhodes said the victims also included his daughter's three children, ranging in age from about 8 to 14. "I'm hurting right now," Rhodes said, adding that he had no idea why anyone would want to harm his daughter and her children.
"We're well known around here, well-liked. The kids are well-liked." Police photographed and later towed a car parked across from the crime scene, but would not say why.