Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau detectives are investigating the circumstances surrounding the shooting death of one male adult, two female adults and one male juvenile at a residence in the 28800 block of Startree Lane in Saugus.

A call from a family friend came into the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station at approximately 7 a.m., according to Homicide Lt. Rodney Moore.

Deputies went to the residence following up on the “check the welfare” call and upon arrival discovered four individuals with gunshot wounds to the upper torso, according to the SCV Sheriff’s Station.

All four victims were pronounced dead at the scene.

“There are four deceased people at the residence,” said Ed Winter, assistant chief of the L.A. County Coroner’s office, at approximately 10:20 a.m. “It was reported as a possible triple homicide and a suicide. We’re not on the scene yet and it’s an ongoing investigation.”

Winter said an adult male and an adult female were among the victims. He did not know the gender or ages of the other two dead, or if any children were involved.

Moore held a press briefing at the scene shortly after noon.

“Two of the deceased individuals were a husband and wife, a male Caucasian approximately 50 to 55 years old and his wife, a female Caucasian approximately 40 to 50 years old,” he said.

“Also present were the couple’s children, a daughter in her early 20s, and the couple’s son, in his pre-teens, approximately 11 or 12 years old,” Moore said.

Moore said the victims’ identities are not being released at this time.

“We’ve also determined that this incident appears to be a murder-suicide, in which the husband shot and killed all three individuals and then turned the gun on himself,” Moore said.

Without getting into specifics, Moore said physical evidence at the scene is what led detectives to conclude the incident was a murder-suicide.

“The firearm, which is a handgun, was located here on the scene,” Moore said. “At this time we are not looking for any outstanding suspects. Any individuals who may have information related to this incident are encouraged to contact the Sheriff’s Department Homicide Bureau.

“We are in the preliminary stages of the investigation, so we haven’t determined how long they’ve been here at the scene,” Moore said.

“The call was made by a family friend, however, I am not sure what led that friend to make that phone call,” he said. He added investigators had not yet contacted neighbors, but there had been no reports of gunfire from neighbors.

The dead were found in various locations inside the residence, Moore said. He would not provide further details.

Moore was not aware of any domestic disturbance calls at the residence in the past.

No motive is known at this time, he said.

“We’re going to process the scene, canvas the area for potential witnesses, dig into the deceased individuals’ backgrounds, and hopefully we can learn what led up to this tragedy,” Moore said.

Moore did not know if the residence was used as a day-care center, but, if so, “Individuals who did use this location as a day care will have to find other places for those services,” he said.

As of 3 p.m. Friday, Homicide detectives were still processing the scene and the Coroner had not arrived.

“They haven’t called us out there yet,” Winter said.

There is no additional information available at this time.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Homicide Bureau phone number is 323-890-5500. If you prefer to provide information anonymously, you may call “Crime Stoppers” by dialing 800-222-TIPS (8477), use your smartphone by downloading the “P3 Tips” Mobile APP on Google play or the Apple App Store or by using the website http://lacrimestoppers.org.

This is a breaking news story and more information will be added as it becomes available.

Photo courtesy News Source LA.