Photo: George Frey/Getty Images
A A 42-year-old Utah man shot and killed seven members of his family, including his five children ages 4 to 17, and then killed himself, two weeks after his wife filed for divorcethe authorities reported.
Enoch City Officials The alleged gunman in the murder-suicide was identified Thursday as Michael Haight, 42, and the victims as his wife, Tausha Haight, 40, their three daughters, ages 17, 12 and 7, and two sons, ages 7 and 4 yearsaccording to the newspaper New York Post.
Court records showed that wife Tausha had filed for divorce from Michael on December 21, but it was not immediately known why she had tried to end their marriage.
Police sent officers to conduct a welfare check on the Haight family on Wednesday after family and friends contacted officials saying they were concerned and had not heard from the victims.
All eight family members were found dead of gunshot wounds inside their home in Enoch City, Utah, on Wednesday by police conducting a welfare check.
Cops found all eight family members dead inside their home still decked out in Christmas lights on Albert Drive.
“At this time, we do not believe there is a threat to the public or that there are suspects on the loose,” authorities said in a news release.
Michael Haight was listed as an insurance agent for Allstate based in Cedar City, Utah, but a family friend told Fox 13 that he had quit his job just days before the shooting.
Enoch is a city of approximately 8,000 located 245 miles south of Salt Lake City and about the same distance from Las Vegas.
Enoch City Manager Rob Dotson said the community was shocked by the news of the tragedy and that the Haights were well known in the city.
“Many of us have run into them at church, in the community and gone to school with these people,” Dotson said Wednesday night. “This community right now is suffering. They feel loss, they feel pain, and they have a lot of questions.”
All five of the children of Michael and Tausha Haight attended schools in the Iron County School District, authorities said in a letter sent to parents.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre released a statement Thursday on behalf of President Biden and the first lady, saying they are “mourning the Enoch City community” in the wake of the shooting.
“Too many Americans have lost loved ones or had their lives forever changed by gun violence, and gun violence remains the leading cause of death for children in the United States,” added Jean-Pierre.
“Less than a month after we marked 10 years since the Sandy Hook tragedy, another mass shooting claimed the lives of five more children in Enoch City.”
