SACO — A family of five was found fatally shot in a Saco apartment on Sunday afternoon, and police said late Sunday they are considering the possibility that the deaths of the man, his wife and their three children were a murder-suicide. 
 
 Police said the shootings in a second-floor apartment at 35 Water St. could have taken place around 11:30 p.m. Saturday, when neighbors reported hearing a sound like “firecrackers” going off. 
 
 But the bodies of the family members were not discovered until Sunday afternoon in bedrooms in their apartment. A preliminary examination by a deputy state medical examiner indicated that each person had been shot to death. 
 
 A neighbor said she saw the husband, who appeared angry, drive away from the apartment building during daylight hours Sunday morning and return a short time later. 
 
 Sgt. Chris Harriman of the Maine State Police said the identities of the deceased will likely be released Monday, after relatives have been notified. 
 
 The people shot to death were the parents, both in their mid-30s, and their three children – boys ages 12 and 7 and a 4-year-old girl. 
 
 “It is definitely something that we will be looking at,” Harriman said during a press conference late Sunday night, when asked if the shooting was a murder-suicide. 
 
 Harriman said autopsies on the bodies – to be performed Monday by the Office of Chief Medical Examiner in Augusta – should answer questions about what happened. 
 
 Police were notified Sunday after a friend of the family became concerned for the family’s well-being and called a worker associated with the apartment complex, Maine Department of Public Safety spokesman Steve McCausland said in a press release Sunday night. 
 
 The worker called Saco police at 1:24 p.m. after entering the apartment and discovering one of the bodies. Saco police officers then found the five bodies in three different rooms, McCausland said. 
 
 “All indications are that no one outside of the family was responsible for the deaths,” McCausland said. “These are not accidental deaths.” 
 
 The bodies of the adults and one child were found in one bedroom, and the bodies of two children were found in two other bedrooms, Harriman said. 
 
 A “long gun” was found next to one of the deceased along with shell casings, but police would not elaborate or say who might have fired the weapon. 
 
 Several neighbors said the father was employed as a maintenance worker for the owners of the apartment complex, which is known as RiverView Apartments. 
 
 The complex is a 61-unit building near the Saco River in downtown Saco. No one answered a call to the company listed as operating the building, Phoenix Management. 
 
 Heather Nason said she knew the family well and was the children’s baby sitter until about a year ago. She and her husband, Dellas Nason, were seen placing a bouquet of flowers outside the apartment building where the family lived. 
 
 Heather Nason said the children were great kids and well-mannered. 
 
 “I loved them like they were my own,” said Nason, who lives across the street. “It’s extremely shocking. I never heard they (the parents) were having problems.” 
 
 Vera Neault, a neighbor who lives across the street, said she saw the children’s father leave their home Sunday morning. He appeared to be angry about something. She said he got into a car and sped off, “squealing his tires.” When he returned, she saw him walk up the stairs to their home and “slam the door.” 
 
 “I can’t believe what happened. It’s always so quiet here. People usually stick to themselves. I’m shocked,” Neault said. 
 
 Another neighbor, Stella Contrerais, said she got to know the children’s mother after the mother asked her for a cigarette one day. She offered to visit the mother one time, but she told her to meet her downstairs and not at their apartment. Contrerais said the family always kept their window blinds and curtains drawn. 
 
 She said the woman’s husband made her feel uncomfortable. 
 
 She described his demeanor as menacing. 
 
 “If his eyes could kill, you’d be dead,” she said. 
 
 Contrerais said the children, with the exception of the little girl, attended local schools. She would see them get on the school bus each morning. 
 
 Another neighbor, Kristi Harkins, described the father of the children as friendly and outgoing, according to The Associated Press. 
 
 “You’d walk and he’d ask how your day was going. He was really nice,” Harkins said. 
 
 Saco Police Chief Bradley Paul said there were no suicide notes found at the scene. Paul said his officers, who were the first to respond, were having some difficulty in dealing with what they saw. 
 
 “It was a tough scene for everyone who entered the apartment,” Paul said. “And it’s going to be tough for them to come to grips with.” 
 
 Share ||||| SACO, Maine (AP) — A family of five, including three children ranging in age from 4 to 12 years old, were found shot to death Sunday inside a southern Maine apartment, authorities said. 
 
 Flowers are seen near a crime scene at an apartment complex where five members of a family, including three children, were found dead Sunday, July 27, 2014, in Saco, Maine. The bodies of a father, mother... (Associated Press) 
 
 A body is moved from a crime scene at an apartment complex where five members of a family, including three children, were found dead authorities said Sunday, July 27, 2014, in Saco, Maine. Investigators... (Associated Press) 
 
 State Police investigate an apartment complex where five members of a family, including three children, were found dead Sunday, July 27, 2014, in Saco, Maine. The bodies of a father, mother and children... (Associated Press) 
 
 Flowers are seen near a crime scene at an apartment complex where five members of a family, including three children, were found dead Sunday, July 27, 2014, in Saco, Maine. The bodies of a father, mother... (Associated Press) 
 
 Kristi Harkins watches police activity at an apartment complex where five members of a family, including three children, were found dead Sunday, July 27, 2014, in Saco, Maine. The bodies of a father,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Investigators said a gun was found near one of the bodies and it appeared no one outside the family was responsible for the shootings. 
 
 State police Sgt. Chris Harriman said murder-suicide is one of the scenarios being investigated but that determination will be made by the state medical examiner's office. 
 
 Authorities did not release the names of the family but said the parents were in their 30s and the children were ages 4, 7 and 12. 
 
 Neighbors Heather and Dellas Nason stopped to place flowers on the ground outside the apartment building, which was surrounded by crime scene tape. Heather Nason said she used to baby-sit the children. 
 
 "I still don't want to believe it," she said. "I love those children like they were my own." 
 
 Their father was a maintenance worker for the complex who was friendly and outgoing, neighbors said. 
 
 "You'd walk by and he'd ask how your day was going. He was really nice," said neighbor Kristi Harkins. She said she had seen the eldest boy playing outside on Saturday. 
 
 Investigators said a family friend had contacted a worker at the apartment complex worried about the well-being of the family. The worker entered the apartment and discovered one body, then immediately called police. 
 
 Detectives said they believed the shootings happened around 11:30 p.m. Saturday. 
 
 Saco police found the bodies in bedrooms. Police described the firearm found in the apartment as a long gun. Shell casings were also recovered. 
 
 Neighbors described the complex along the Saco River as a friendly and safe place where kids rode bicycles and played together. But the droves of children who usually circle the complex were all inside Sunday night, replaced by concerned adults. 
 
 State and local police, along with the medical examiner, were at the scene Sunday night. Officials said autopsies are scheduled for Monday. 
 
 Saco is a city of about 18,000 people in southern Maine, about 10 miles southwest of Portland.
– Police in Saco, Maine, say they're not seeking any other suspects after a mother and father and their three children were found shot dead yesterday afternoon inside their home. The bodies of the parents, who were in their mid-30s, and their children—boys ages 12 and 7 and a girl, 4—were discovered after a friend of the family called the apartment complex where they lived out of concern for their well-being, reports the Portland Press Herald. Neighbors say they heard a sound like "firecrackers" Saturday night and saw the father speed off in his car the next morning before returning to the home and slamming the door. No suicide note was found, but "all indications are that no one outside of the family was responsible for the deaths," a police spokesman says. A long gun was found next to one of the bodies, he says. The father was a maintenance worker at the apartment complex in the city about 10 miles south of Portland, and neighbors describe him as friendly. "You'd walk by and he'd ask how your day was going. He was really nice," a neighbor tells the AP. Another neighbor who tried to befriend the mother, however, says the family always kept their blinds closed and describes the father as menacing. "If his eyes could kill, you’d be dead," she tells the Press Herald.