Sheriff: 4 found fatally shot in ND likely murder-suicide

CANDO, N.D. (AP) — Sheriff’s deputies are investigating the deaths of four people found shot in a wheat field in rural northeast North Dakota as a murder-suicide.

The Towner County Sheriff’s Office said deputies were dispatched to the field south of Cando, the county seat, about 6 p.m. Monday for a report of four unresponsive individuals.

Responding deputies found four bodies and secured the scene with the help of the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation and other law enforcement agencies.

Towner County Sheriff Andrew Hillier said Tuesday the four individuals are adults and lived in the area. He declined to release the gender, relationship or identities of those who died or the circumstances surrounding the shootings.

Hillier said the crime scene has been processed and the bodies were headed to either Grand Forks or Bismarck for autopsies.

A firearm was found in possession of one of the individuals, the sheriff’s office said. Evidence at the scene indicates it was a murder-suicide case and that there is no know threat to the public, according to the sheriff.

Cando is 118 miles (189.9 kilometers) west of Grand Forks and 40 miles (64.3 kilometers) south of the Canadian border.