(Reuters) – After an hours-long manhunt in South Carolina, authorities said on Thursday they had found a suspect in the fatal shooting of a prominent physician, his wife, two grandchildren and a man who was working at their home in a quiet, suburban community.
“There is no active threat to the community,” the York County Sheriff’s Office declared, but did not say whether the suspect had been taken alive.
“We have found the person that we believe is responsible and we are with them at this time,” Trent Faris, a sheriff’s office spokesman, told reporters shortly after midnight.
Shot dead in their Rock Hill, South Carolina, home were Dr. Robert Lesslie, his wife Barbara Lesslie and two grandchildren, the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
The fifth victim in the deadly shooting, reported on Wednesday afternoon, was identified as James Lewis, who was working at the Lesslies’ home in Rock Hill, about 30 miles (48 km) south of Charlotte, North Carolina.
A sixth victim was wounded in the shooting and rushed to a hospital, according to a local media report.
Local news media said Robert Lesslie was 70 and his wife was 69. The grandchildren were identified as 9-year-old Adah Lesslie and 5-year-old Noah Lesslie. James Lewis was 38.
The sheriff’s office said an investigation was underway and that it likely would report more on the crime later on Thursday.
Robert Lesslie, a board-certified emergency medicine and occupational medicine physician, was co-owner of two local urgent care clinics, according to an online biography.
He also had worked in and directed several busy emergency rooms at Charlotte-area hospitals and had been medical director of the emergency department at Rock Hill General Hospital for almost 15 years, the biography said.
(Reporting by Peter Szekely in New York; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
