NEW TOWN, N.D. - A woman and three children are dead after a shooting Sunday in New Town, according to a pastor who knows the victims, and the FBI has taken over the investigation, a Mountrail County Office dispatcher said this morning.
Meanwhile, the Minot Daily News reports that a fifth person died Sunday evening in Parshall, a town fewer than 20 miles east of New Town, and investigators are working to determine if the death is connected to the deaths of a woman and three children Sunday afternoon in New Town.
The FBI is handling the shooting investigations in connection with the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation, said FBI spokesman Kyle Loven.
Loven said he could not release additional details about the incidents, saying the investigation is "still fairly fluid."
"This is a very fresh investigation," Loven said. "We are confident there is no threat to the public at large."
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The Sheriff's Office has yet to issue a press release for either incident.
Sheriff Ken Halvorson told the Minot Daily News the New Town deaths occurred at a residence and were reported about 3 p.m. Sunday. A grandmother, two boys and a girl are the victims, Halvorson told the newspaper.
The victim of the Parshall incident, which occurred about 8:30 p.m., is an adult male, Halvorson told the newspaper.
The shooting deaths of the woman and children were "very terrifying" and sad, not only for the family but the whole community, said the Rev. Grant Patterson, pastor of Bethel Lutheran Church in New Town. He knows the victims, he said.
Marc Bluestone, superintendent of the public school in New Town, said he decided to call off classes for today because of "the tragedy in our community."
Although he has not been told anything by the sheriff, from what he's heard from neighbors and friends, the child victims were students in the school.
"In the best interests of our community and school, with the limited information we have, my decision is to call off school for (today)," he said.
