Eight relatives dead in Ohio 'execution style' killings

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[April 23, 2016]    By Jon Herskovitz
 
 (Reuters) - Eight members of the same family were shot to death execution-style in four homes in Pike County, Ohio, and more than 30 people have been questioned in the search for the killer or killers, officials said on Friday.

The victims included seven adults and one juvenile, all shot in the head, Pike County Sheriff Charles Reader and Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said. Reader identified them as members of the Rohden family.

Asked about possible suspects, DeWine told a news conference: "We don't know whether we're talking about one individual, or two, or three, or more."

An infant less than a week old, a 6-month-old and a 3-year-old survived the shootings in Pike County, in south-central Ohio.

Some of the victims appeared to have been murdered in bed, including the mother of the infant who survived, DeWine said.

He played down media reports that a "person of interest" had been detained in Chillicothe, in nearby Ross County.

"I would not use the term person of interest. I will confirm that a number of people are being interviewed and there are several of those who are in Chillicothe," he said.

DeWine said his office had interviewed more than 30 people, with more set to be questioned.

Reader said anyone involved in the shootings should be considered armed and extremely dangerous.

DeWine said that none of the deaths had resulted from suicide. He said processing the four crime scenes likely would continue through Friday night into Saturday morning.

(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz and Ian Simpson; Editing by Robert Birsel)

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