BROKEN ARROW, Okla. (KRON/CNN) — A silent 911 call led police in Oklahoma to find five people stabbed to death and a girl critically injured inside a suburban Tulsa home late Wednesday. Investigators say as officers arrived at the home, two teenage suspects fled the scene, running out the door.
Police dogs later tracked 16-and 18-year-old males, both related to the victims into the woods, and took the suspects into custody, according to investigators.
It was not immediately clear what charges the teens may face or what spurred the gruesome crime. But it has shaken citizens in Broken Arrow, a Tulsa suburb with about 100,000 people that has one or two homicides a year, not five in one day. Investigators say such a crime is unprecedented for the area.
“I’ve been here 19 years and I don’t know if we’ve had more than three homicides in a year. I don’t think we’ve had a single incident of this magnitude,” said Broken Arrow Police Cpl. Leon Calhoun, the department spokesman.
Police say units were dispatched to a single-family home around 11:30 p.m. Wednesday to check out “an unknown problem.” Investigators say the 911 call was an open line, meaning it was placed but there was no conversation with the dispatcher. So police traced the number to the home.
Officers arrived to find two adults and three juveniles dead. Police Sgt. Thomas Cooper said in all, nine people were linked to the family home – the five dead; the 16- and 18-year-old relatives who are now in custody; a 13-year-old girl in serious but stable condition with stab wounds; and a 2-year-old girl who was unharmed. The toddler was transferred to state custody, Cooper said.
Investigators say it appears that the two suspects fled out the door around the same time as officers began arriving on scene. Both were caught a short time later, near the house, police said.
There’s no word on what led to the killings. Investigators were at the home on Thursday, collecting evidence, hoping to piece together what happened.