(Reuters) – Police in northwestern Idaho opened a homicide investigation into the deaths of four University of Idaho students whose bodies were found in a house near campus in an incident that prompted an order at the school to shelter in place for hours.
Police were called to a residence in Moscow, Idaho, for an unconscious individual a little before noon on Sunday. On arrival, officers found four individuals dead inside the home, according to a statement from the Moscow Police Department.
Soon after the bodies were found, the university told students and staff to shelter in place and to stay away from the area. The university of 6,800 students lifted the alert about three hours later, saying there was no ongoing threat.
The police department in the northwestern Idaho city of 25,000 people did not identify the dead students. It said it had opened an homicide investigation, but did not disclose details about the incident.
Classes were canceled on Monday and were to resume on Tuesday at the university, school officials said.
The incident came hours before a shooting at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville left three people dead and two wounded.
(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Chicago; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
