Hide Transcript Show Transcript

FOUR DEAD, A HUGE LOSS FOR A TOWN. BUT ALL OF THESE VICTIMS ARE PART OF THE RELATIVELY SMALL LOCAL SIKH COMMUNITY, AND ALL FROM THE SAME FAMILY. >> I GOT A CALL AROUND 9ISH THIS MORNING. I COULD NOT BELIEVE IT. BRIAN: JASMINDER SINGH IS WITH THE SIKH TEMPLE ON TYLERSVILLE ROAD. HE SAYS HE SAW THE MALE VICTIM JUST A MATTER OF HOURS BEFORE HE WAS KILLED >> I MET HIM YESTERDAY IN TEMPLE. HE WAS HERE. BRIAN: JASMINDER SAYS THE MAN WAS AMONG THE FIRST TO WELCOME HIM TO THE AREA ABOUT A DECADE AGO. >> THE BEST I KNOW ABOUT HIM. HE’S A VERY GOOD FRIEND. BRIAN: WE’RE NOT NAMING THE VICTIM BECAUSE POLICE ARE YET TO RELEASE THE NAMES, BUT JASMINDER SAY IT WAS HIS FRIEND, THAT MAN’S DAUGHTER, HIS WIFE AND HER SISTER. THOSE WHO LIVED AROUND THE COMPLEX WHERE THE 4 WERE FOUND DEAD SAY THE FAMILY WAS ALWAYS OUTGOING AND FRIENDLY. >> THEY LIVED ACROSS THE HALL. SUPER NICE FAMILY. SEEMED REALLY NICE ALL THE TIME. BRIAN: CHRIS CASTANIAS WAS A NEIGHBOR, WHO SAW THE FAMILY REGULARLY, INCLUDING THE 3 CHILDREN WHO LIVED THERE. POLICE SAY THE CHILDREN WERE NOT HOME AT THE TIME OF THE MURDERS. >> IT’S SHOCKING REALLY. I MEAN YOU DON’T EXPECT IT. BRIA NOW AS POLICE TRY TO TRACK DOWN A KILLER, A COMMUNITY TRIES TO FIND THE REASON BEHIN SOMETHING SO UNREASONABLE. THERE ARE SERVICES HERE EVERY NIGHT BUT TONIGHT PART OF THAT SERVICE WILL BE REMEMBER

Advertisement Murders of 4 West Chester family members hit Sikh community hard Share Shares Copy Link Copy

A homicide investigation is underway after four family members were shot and killed at the Lakefront at West Chester apartment complex Sunday.Police responded to the scene around 9:40 p.m. for a call of four people down inside an apartment on Wyndtree Drive, police said.Police found four adults, three women and one man, dead inside the apartment from multiple gunshot wounds. The victims were all related and lived in the home together, West Chester Police Chief Joel Herzog said.Police have not released the identities of the victims but said they were all members of the same family.Jasminder Singh said the four were very involved in the Sikh community.Singh is still thinking about the conversation he had with a man just a few hours before that man became one of four dead at a West Chester apartment complex."I met him yesterday in temple. He was here," Singh said from inside the Sikh Temple on Tylerville Road."It's sad, very sad. Whatever happened, we lost four people," Singh said.Singh said the victims were the man he knows, the man's daughter, his wife and her sister. Investigators have not named a suspect.The victim Singh spoke to was among the first people he met when he came to the area 12 years ago."The best I know about him, he's a very good friend," Singh said.In a 911 call released by police, an emotional family member tells a dispatcher he came home to find his wife and three other family members bleeding."My wife and my family are bleeding ... they're on the ground and they're bleeding," the caller said to the dispatcher.Police confirmed the caller was a family member who discovered the victims. The caller was not taken into custody, police said.Two neighbors also called 911."There was someone banging on the door, telling us to call the police," one neighbor said.Police said it does not appear that the shooter is among the dead or that anyone returned fire.Herzog said it is too early to name any persons of interest or suspects.In the last 10 years, there have been calls to police at the apartment for assault reports and theft, Herzog said. He said it's unclear if the victims lived there when the calls were made since it was over a period of a several years.Police said children do live in the home, but weren't there at the time of the shooting and are currently with other family members.Police said there is no immediate threat to neighbors and no nearby schools are on lockdown but are aware of the situation.Police told residents to be diligent about their surroundings and report anything unusual, saying "nothing is too small."Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call West Chester police.