A father is suspected of having shot dead his five children at a trailer park in Washington state, then himself, after hearing his wife was leaving him.

Police were called to the mobile home on Saturday after a visiting relative found nobody answered the door and saw a child's body through a window.

Reports say the mother walked out during a row with her husband hours before the shooting.

The youngest of the three girls and two boys was aged seven, and the eldest 16.

Four children were found shot in their beds and one in the bathroom inside the mobile home outside Graham, Pierce County.

Their father, James Harrison, 34, was found dead from an apparent rifle-shot to the head in his car, with the engine still running. No note was found in the vehicle.

"This was not a tragedy. It was a rotten murder," said Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor.

"This appears to be the terrible work of the biological father. If that doesn't break your heart, I don't know what does."

Source: BBC