Four people have been found dead inside a building at a North Dakota property management company in what police said was an incident involving multiple homicides, PEOPLE confirms.
“This is not common for our community to have multiple homicides,” Mandan Police Deputy Chief Lori Flaten tells PEOPLE. “It is a tragedy. We hope to have more information in the next few days as our investigation continues. This has been quite the day.”
It is not clear how the deceased were killed. Police say the bodies have yet to be identified.
Mandan Police are investigating with the assistance of North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the Morton Sheriff’s Office, Morton County Public Information Officer Maxine Herr tells PEOPLE.
It is unknown if the deceased are employees of the company.
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Judy Praus, a friend of the owner’s family, told theStamford Advocateshe had just seen the owners of the management company on Saturday and knew many of the employees. It is unclear if the owners are still living.
“When I was notified, I [was] shattered. Unbelievable,” she said.
Gina Kessel, 52, said her son Mitchell, a company employee who was not among the deceased, called her that morning and told her “something is going on” but didn’t say what happened, theAdvocatereports.
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Mandan resident Suzette Wall said she planned to wait around to make sure the owners were okay. “They’re great people to lease from,” she told KFYR News.
According to its website, RJR Maintenance and Management is a family-owned business that has “collected rents, advised, and provided financial statements for our clients” for over 20 years.
“Our hands-on approach to property management gives us a competitive advantage over other companies,” it reads.
PEOPLE could not reach the company for comment.
Mandan, a city of 25,000, is located just across the Missouri River from Bismarck, the state capital.
The Mandan police have scheduled a press conference for 5 p.m.
source: people.com
