Seven people are dead and two critically injured in a massacre at a southeastern Georgia mobile home, though police won't say whether they think the killer is on the loose or among the dead.
The county's police chief, Matt Doering, provided few other details Saturday evening in a news conference other than to say that his officers are actively pursing leads and are in the process of notifying the victims' families.
"This is a record for us. We've never had such an incident with so many victims," Doering told reporters. "It's not a scene that I would want anybody to see."
He said authorities discovered the victims when responding to a 911 call shortly after 8 a.m. Saturday. Ihe injured were taken to an area hospital.
Police said the probe was a homicide investigation. Some of the victims had been tentatively identified, but names and ages haven't been made public.
The mobile home park consists of about 100 spaces and is nestled among centuries-old live oak trees near the center of New Hope Plantation, according to the plantation's Web site.
The 1,100 acre tract is all that remains of a Crown grant made in 1763 to Henry Laurens, who later succeeded John Hancock as president of the Continental Congress in 1777.
Laurens obtained control of the South Altamaha river lands and named it New Hope Plantation, according to the plantation's Web site.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox