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Shooting at a birthday party in northern Kentucky leaves 4 people dead, 3 wounded

Yellow police tape is seen around the perimeter of a home where a shooting took place on Saturday in Florence, Ky.
Carolyn Kaster
/
AP
Yellow police tape is seen around the perimeter of a home where a shooting took place on Saturday in Florence, Ky.

Four people were killed and three others were wounded by gunfire inside a house in northern Kentucky early Saturday morning, according to local police.

The 21-year-old suspect died from a self-inflicted wound after fleeing the scene.

The Florence Police Department said officers were dispatched at 2:51 a.m. to a birthday party inside a private residence in Florence, a city outside Cincinnati.

Officers found four people dead at the scene — Melissa Parrett, 44; Shane Miller, 20; Hayden Rybicki, 20; and Delaney Eary, 19. Parrett had organized the birthday party for her 21-year-old son.

The suspect, identified as Chase Garvey, was not invited and had shown up to the celebration, police Chief Jeff Mallery said in a press conference.

Three other gunshot victims were taken to a local hospital, where they "appear stable" and able to make a full recovery, Mallery added.

Mallery added that officers were able to locate Garvey with the help of "partygoers" at the scene, who gave a description of Garvey and his vehicle.

The suspect, identified as Chase Garvey, was not invited and had shown up to the birthday party, Florence Police Chief Jeff Mallery said.

/ Florence Police Department
/
Florence Police Department
The suspect, identified as Chase Garvey, was not invited and had shown up to the birthday party, Florence Police Chief Jeff Mallery said.

"We never dealt with this before," Mallery said. "This is the first time we had a mass shooting in Florence, so yeah it's very emotional."

Officers later found Garvey driving on the road, near U.S. Route 42. Garvey and the officers were involved in a car chase before he veered off the road and crashed into a ditch.

There, officers discovered that Garvey had sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound and was pronounced dead at a local hospital, police said. Law enforcement officials said they believe he acted alone.

Copyright 2024 NPR

Juliana Kim
Juliana Kim is a weekend reporter for Digital News, where she adds context to the news of the day and brings her enterprise skills to NPR's signature journalism.
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