A man and his three young children, all below school age, were found dead yesterday in the small municipality of Pomarkku in Western Finland. All had died of gunshot wounds.
An alarm call was received by the emergency services on Monday evening at 20:39.
The Satakunta Police Department is investigating the case. Matters are at a very early stage, and police have not been able to give further details as yet.
It is not clear, for example, whether the incident is another in what have come to be described loosely as "family killings" or even "extended suicides".
The police have not yet disclosed whether there were other members of the family, and there is no certainty as to the identity of the person who made the alarm call or whether the killings took place at the family home.
"All these questions remain open at present", said police spokeswoman Mari Kaunistola on Tuesday morning.
The police are expected to shed more light on the case at a briefing scheduled to begin in the early afternoon.
