Four people were fatally shot in Ohio Friday morning in a shooting spree that led the police on a manhunt to search for the suspect.
The Butler Township Police said in a press release that officers responded to reports of shots fired in a Butler Township neighborhood at Hardwicke Place. The police said that officers found the four victims in different areas and that they were all pronounced dead at the scene.
On Thursday, the Gun Violence Archive, reported a total of 3,000 teens in the United States have been either killed or injured in shootings in 2022. This includes 814 who were killed and 2,189 injured by gunfire.
Two of the victims, a mother and her 15-year-old daughter, were found dead in a home on Hardwicke Place, according to a family member, local news station WDTN reported.
The police are currently searching for who they believe to be the suspect responsible for those killings and identified him as 39-year-old Stephen Alexander Marlow.
“He is a white male, 39 years old and approximately 5’11”, 160 pounds with short brown hair and was last seen wearing shorts and a yellow t-shirt. Marlow is believed to have fled the area in a white 2007 Ford Edge SUV bearing Ohio license plate JES9806,” the Butler Township Police said in the press release.
Authorities don’t believe that there are further ongoing threats in the neighborhood at the moment, according to Porter, but crews will continue to monitor the area in case Marlow returns.
“If anyone sees Marlow or the vehicle they should call 9-1-1 immediately and not approach him as he is still likely to be armed and dangerous,” the police added.
“This is the first violent crime in the neighborhood in recent memory. We ask that anyone with any possible information involving this incident or whereabouts of Marlow are asked to call our dispatch center at 937-233-2080,” Butler Township Police Chief John Porter said, according to WDTN. “We are working to determine if there was any motive to this horrible tragedy or if mental illness played any role.”
Newsweek reached out to the Butler Township Police department for additional information and comment.
Past Killing Sprees
In a separate shooting spree in Denver last year, a gunman reportedly shot four people and died shortly afterward, according to the police. The suspect killed two women and injured a man in the first shooting in central Denver, and killed one man in a second shooting at a different location near Denver’s Cheesman Park.
In another killing incident, a man allegedly stabbed a teen to death and injured four others during an attack while the five individuals were tubing on the Apple River in Wisconsin during the weekend. The suspect, a 52-year-old man from Minnesota, was arrested after he was later identified by a witness.