ENOCH, Utah — A southern Utah community was struggling for answers on Thursday after police found eight people from one family, including five children, shot to death in the small town of Enoch.

Police sent officers to check on them on Wednesday and found the family dead from gunshot wounds. Officials did not immediately say why they went to the home.

Officials in Enoch said Michael Haight, 42, took his own life after killing his wife, mother-in-law, and the couple’s five children.

The children ranged in age from 4 to 17 and included three girls and two boys, authorities said. The other victims were Tausha Haight, 40, and her 78-year-old mother, Gail Earl.

“At this time, we do not believe there is a threat to the public or that there are any suspects at large,” officials said in a news release.

Enoch is a small town of about 8,000 people located 245 miles south of Salt Lake City and about equally distant from Las Vegas.

Family Well-Known in the Community

Enoch City Manager Rob Dotson said the community was sent reeling by news and that the deceased were well-known in the town because of their Mormon religion.

“Many of us have served with them in church, in the community, and gone to school with these individuals,” Dotson said Wednesday night. “This community at this time is hurting. They’re feeling loss, they’re feeling pain and they have a lot of questions.”

“We all can pray that their families and the neighbors and all will come to an understanding of what happened in this place, probably in a day or two, or maybe longer,” he said.

The five children attended schools in the Iron County School District, officials said in a letter sent to parents.