TABERNACLE, N.J. (AP) — State police say the four people found shot in a southern New Jersey home, two fatally, are a mother and her children.

They say there isn't an active search for a shooter and no one else is in danger.

A boy and a girl were found dead Thursday in a home in Tabernacle. Their mother - identified by State Police as Jeaninne LePage, 44 - and their brother, remain in extremely critical condition at Cooper University Hospital in Camden.

Emergency workers at the scene of a fatal multiple shooting in Tabernacle, NJ Thursday. (Dino Flammia, Townsquare New Jersey)
Emergency workers at the scene of a fatal multiple shooting in Tabernacle, NJ Thursday. (Dino Flammia, Townsquare New Jersey)
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Authorities said there were nine related people in the house at the time of the shootings.

Police say all four people were found in the same room and they believe the shootings happened sometimes between late Wednesday night and about 9 a.m. Thursday when another resident of the home called police.

State Police spokesman Capt. Stephen Jones says the victims were related and family members had called police. He said they did not hear the shots. Jones was not specific in speaking about the relationship of the victims.

State police also said there was no "massive manhunt" for a suspect and the public should not be alarmed.

Authorities said they received a report of multiple shootings in the home on Holly Park Drive in Tabernacle after 9 a.m. Thursday.

Inside the home, troopers found a boy and a girl dead. The injured woman and boy were taken to Cooper Hospital, where a spokeswoman said they were in critical condition.

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Lt. Stephen Jones, left, and Capt. Geoff Noble, right, hold press conference on the shootings in Tabernacle Township, NJ Thursday. (Dino Flammia, Townsquare Media)[/caption]

The Burlington County community is located in the sparsely populated New Jersey Pinelands, about 30 miles east of Philadelphia.

Neighbors said they didn't know the residents in the house and didn't hear any commotion Thursday morning until troopers arrived and helicopters began hovering overhead.

It's very quiet, peaceful. You can hear a pin drop," said Mike Watson, who has lived in the neighborhood for 25 years.

Jeanette Salvatore, who lives two doors down from the deadly shooting, said her grandchildren played "very frequently" with the young victims.

"We didn't know the parents well at all," she said. "We met them, but we don't really know them."

Noting the incident was most likely an isolated one, Salvatore said she'll go about her normal routine.

"It's not any person walking around, shooting people," she said.

Nearby resident Joan Doyle echoed the perception of safety within her neighborhood.

"It doesn't change my schedule at all," she said. "I'd like to be able to walk my dog like I always do."

 


 

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