Three people were found dead in the basement of a Virginia home Thursday. A 2-year-old child and a nanny were found safe inside.
The nanny, identified as Consuelo Martinez, called 911 Thursday afternoon and told the operator there were two bodies in the basement of the Springfield home. But when Fairfax County police officers arrived, they found a third body, belonging to a man in his 40s, in the basement.
Martinez, who has been working for the family for about three years as a housekeeper, was on the upper level of the house when she heard the sound of gunshots. She then went to the home’s basement to find the bodies of two people — a woman in her 30s and her brother, a man in his 20s who was just visiting, reported NBC Washington.
“I see the people on the sofa,” the housekeeper told Spanish outlet Telemundo 44.
The woman and her brother were found with multiple gunshot wounds, while the man in his 40s sustained a single gunshot wound, officers said. The child and the nanny did not sustain any harm.
The circumstances that led to the shooting are unclear.
Investigators are treating the case as a domestic-related incident. They are also exploring double murder and suicide angles, 7News DC reported.
Police recovered a handgun that was next to the three dead bodies and found no signs of forced entry into the house.
Apart from the toddler, two other children also live in the house. They were at school when the incident took place, police said, adding that the nanny also lived in the house. She was with the toddler on the upper level of the house when shots were fired downstairs.
“Right now, we’re working diligently to identify all three involved, but there are also three juveniles and a nanny that live at the home, and they’re all safe and all accounted for,” Fairfax County police Lt. Col. Eli Cory said. “Right now, we have not been able to find any signs of forced entry to the home, and our detectives … are working diligently to piece together what occurred today.”
There was reportedly a two-hour gap between when the housekeeper heard the gunshots and when she called 911 call to report the shooting. Investigators are working to build a timeline of events and find out what happened in the 2-hour gap.
“She and her husband, they are good,” Martinez said about the family she worked for. “I don’t [know] what happened.”
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