4 people, including 2 children, found dead at ‘scene of violence’ involving house fire

By Mitchell McCluskey, CNN

(CNN) — Two adults and two children were found dead at a “scene of violence” involving a fire at a house in Seattle, Washington, on Saturday, authorities said.

At 8:41 a.m., the Seattle Police Department received a call from an 11-year-old girl who said there was a deceased person inside her house on 48th Street and Whitman Avenue, Police Chief Adrian Diaz said.

Officers arrived at the scene within five minutes to find the front door barricaded and a fire burning inside the house, Diaz said. Seattle Fire Department officers were then called to assist.

Seattle Fire Chief Harold Scoggins said his units were dispatched to the fire “as well as a scene of violence.”

The majority of the fire was at the front of the building and within 45 minutes the fire had been knocked down, Scoggins said. Fire units were then able to search the building.

Inside the house, the fire units found one dead person at the front and one dead person at the rear of the building, along with an infant and a child who were also deceased, Scoggins said.

A dog was also found dead inside the house, Scoggins said.

The 11-year-old girl was able to escape the building through a window and called police from a neighbor’s house, Diaz said. He said authorities are working to reunite her with other family members.

The names and ages of those who died have not been released. The cause of the deaths is still being determined by medical examiners, Diaz said. Police said they know who lived at the house, but they are working to determine whether they were the same people who died.

The cause of the fire has not been determined, but arson investigators are on the scene, Scoggins said.

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