A mother who police believe killed her husband and two of their children before turning the gun on herself made some concerning social media posts before the fatal shooting.
Emily Long, 34, her husband Ryan, 48, and two children aged eight and six respectively were found dead at their home in Madbury, New Hampshire, US.
Also in the house was a three-year-old child who was unharmed.
State troopers attended the property on Monday (18 August) evening and found the four bodies along with the surviving child, with investigators saying the matter appears to have been a murder-suicide, and autopsies of the dead have now been carried out.
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In a statement, the New Hampshire Department of Justice said: "Based upon the information available at this time, it appears that in the early morning hours of Monday, 18 August, 2025, Ms. Long took a handgun from the home and caused the deaths of Ryan Long and her two children, Parker and Ryan, and then took her own life immediately thereafter."
According to Maine Public, in the months before the shooting, Emily posted a number of distressing videos on social media as she said her husband had been diagnosed with glioblastoma, a kind of brain tumour.
The mother went into detail on her husband's surgery and chemotherapy, along with the impact it was having on the mental health of her and her children.
In the last video, posted shortly before the shootings are thought to have taken place, Emily Long said, 'our kids are definitely struggling'.
She said: "All I want to do is hide under a blanket with my kids, but that isn't healthy for them and it's not healthy for me.
"Today I decided I need to make a conscious effort to shift my mindset. I'm getting out of this depression whether I want to or not.
"I am determined to create normalcy."
In other videos, she spoke of trying to tell her children about her husband's diagnosis.
The authorities have said 'investigators are becoming aware of various concerns/issues ongoing in the household at the time of the event in question'.
However, they added that people should 'avoid speculating that this event was caused by a single reason or stressor'.
New Hampshire Assistant Attorney General Ben Agati told WCAX: "One of the biggest questions they have right now is motive, why? And I think that’s probably one of the more difficult things that they are trying to grasp to understand how this came to be."
Officials believe there is no further threat to the public.
Joe Harker