FLORENCE, Ky. (AP) — Four people were killed and three others were wounded in an early Saturday shooting during a party at a home in northern Kentucky, police said.
The shooting suspect later died after fleeing the home and leading police on a vehicle pursuit that ended with the suspect’s car falling into a ditch, police said.
Police heard shots being fired when they arrived at a home in Florence at about 2:50 a.m., said Jeff Mallery, the city’s police chief. Police found seven shooting victims at the home, Mallery told media during a news conference.
Four people were found dead, police said. Three people were taken to a hospital in Cincinnati in critical condition. They were expected to recover, Mallery said.
The suspect, identified by police as Chase Garvey, 21, led officers on a chase that ended after his vehicle went off a road and fell into a ditch. Garvey had a self-inflicted gunshot wound and died at a hospital, police said.
Police said the suspect acted alone, and there was no ongoing threat to the public.
People had gathered at the home for a birthday party for the 21-year-old son of the homeowner, Mallery said. The homeowner, identified as Melissa Parrett, 44, died in the shooting, the police chief said. It appeared that Garvey knew people at the party but he had not been invited, Mallery said.
The others killed in the shooting were Shane Miller, 20; Hayden Rybicki, 20; and Delaney Eary, 19, police said.
A motive was under investigation.
“I know what’s going on throughout the nation, but this is the first time that we’ve had a mass shooting in Florence,” Mallery said. “Yeah, it is very emotional. My emotions are for the victims, their families, the officers that responded, everybody that was touched by this situation.”
A neighbor, Leah Moore, told The Associated Press that she heard what she thought was firecrackers at about 2 a.m. Later, she was awakened again by police lights.
“I saw crime tape, I saw a bunch of cops, I saw all the kids in one of my neighbors’ yards across the street,” Moore, 23, said in a phone interview.
Moore said she knew Parrett and her family well, describing them as “great, amazing people.”
“She is so wholesome, so welcoming, and she is the best person I’ve ever met,” Moore said.
Florence is a city of about 36,000 people located about 12 miles (19 kilometers) south of Cincinnati, Ohio.
