LORAIN, Ohio — Four people have been found dead in a Lorain home, police confirmed Sunday.
Law enforcement held a press conference on Monday with the latest details. Speaking with the media, Lieutenant Jacob Morris confirmed the department is currently investigating the incident as a suspected triple murder-suicide.
Officers first responded to the apartment on East 9th Street near Broadway Avenue around 10 a.m. following reports of dogs on the loose, with a neighbor pointing out the home where the animals had come from. Once on scene, law enforcement noticed the door to that upstairs apartment was open and went inside, where they found two adults and two young children deceased.
Full press conference:
Per Morris, police found the body of 29-year-old Tyler Young first, dead from a gunshot wound to the head with a 9mm pistol next to him. They then searched the rest of the residence, where they discovered the remains of Young's 24-year-old wife Skylar Young, their 4-month-old son Bandin Young, and Skylar's 9-year-old daughter Angel Isaac.
Those three had also been shot, and at this time, investigators believe Tyler Young killed them all before turning the gun on himself.
Asked if there had been a history of domestic violence in the family, Morris answered that police had been called to the home this past May after Skylar Young accused her husband of strangling her.
"She explained that there were both verbal threats made and physical harm. I believe she stated that she was slapped and choked," Morris said. "At the time, Mrs. Young was 26 weeks pregnant with Bandin."
Tyler Young was arrested, but his wife eventually recanted her statement, and a Lorain County grand jury declined to issue an indictment.
"I believe she alleged that she didn't think that it occurred and that she may have had a flashback from a prior incident," Morris explained.
3News spoke with Tyler Young's aunt Lisa Costello, who told us the family was devastated by the situation. She also gave some insight into her nephew's mental state, claiming he had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia 10 years ago.
"He just was fighting demons in his mind," Costello said.
Costello added the family had tried to help Tyler over the previous decade, but he refused to get on medication. Aside from the 9mm allegedly used to commit the murders, police also found two more guns in the home.
"How, how, how, how do you get this? Do they not run the background checks?" Costello asked of the weapons. "And Tyler didn't have the means to get it off the street. He didn't know a lot of people and stuff, so I'm pretty sure he bought them."
Costello says her mother, Tyler's grandmother, stopped at the apartment the night before the killings ocurred to drop off soup. Now, both families are left grieving an unthinkable loss.
"My mom called [Skylar's] mom," Costello stated. "And Angel, the little girl, it was her birthday yesterday. She just turned 9. I just found that out. I didn't realize. I'm really sorry for her family."