A wordless 911 call led police to a gruesome discovery in an Oklahoma home — five people stabbed to death, a wounded 13-year-old girl, a toddler who had escaped harm.
Two teens were taken into custody, police told NBC News early Thursday. The suspects, aged 18 and 16, allegedly ran out the back door when officers arrived at the scene in the Tulsa suburb of Broken Arrow.
The suspects, the dead, the surviving teen and the unharmed two-year-old girl were all relatives, and all lived at the home, Broken Arrow Police Sgt. Thomas Cooper said. The 13-year-old was taken to the hospital with stab wounds in serious but stable condition. She had surgery Thursday morning, NewsOn6.com in Oklahoma reported.
Broken Arrow Police Cpl. Leon Calhoun told the Associated Press that police were having a hard time notifying next of kin because so many relatives were entangled in the stabbing.
Police went to the house after emergency operators received an “open 911 call,” where the line is connected but there’s no one speaking, at 11:30 p.m. local time on Wednesday, reported NBC affiliate KFOR.
“It was a pretty gruesome scene and unprecedented in terms of the types of crimes we get in Broken Arrow,” Cooper told NBC News.
The two teen suspects were tracked by a police dog to a wooded trail area behind the house after running out the back door, Cooper said.
The two-year-old has been taken into protective custody, KFOR reported.
Broken Arrow, a city of around 100,000, averages one or two homicides “every couple of years,” Cooper added. “This is a relatively safe community, smaller than Tulsa and what you might call a bedroom community. “The crime scene has taken a pretty heavy toll on officers who have come out here,” he added. “It hits close to home, especially when the victims are adults and juveniles. Our officers have a lot to take in.” Helen Hoagland, who has lived in the subdivision for 42 years, told The Associated Press that two parents and five children lived in the home. She said the children were home schooled. “We just have a great neighborhood,” Hoagland said as she watched police work the crime scene before dawn. “That’s just crazy; it’s absolutely crazy.” This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com
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