Boy, 5, Among 4 Dead in New York City Suspected Murder-Suicide

Four people, including a young boy, were killed after fire broke out in an apartment in New York City, police have said.

The incident, currently being investigated as a possible murder-suicide, left two adult women, one man and a boy of around five dead in an eight-unit building located in the Queens borough of New York. Police did not confirm the nature of the relationship between the victims, but local news channel NY1 cites unnamed sources who claim that the adult male involved in the incident was a resident of the property.

New York Police Department Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea said investigators are only beginning their work and urged for patience before they release more information, Reuters reported. "We will take the evidence wherever it leads us," Shea said. "We don't want to leave any stone unturned."

Video footage of police swarming the building on 30th Drive near 23rd Street in Astoria around before 9 p.m. Monday has spread widely on social media. The officers arrived on the scene in response to an aided case of heavy bleeding, presumably of one of the victims, Shea said in his statement broadcast by a local ABC affiliate. The detective chief did not specify who "directed" local precinct officers to the crime scene, however the New York Post reported that the 911 call came after a cleaning woman arrived on the crime scene and witnessed some of the bloody aftermath. Officers arrived to search the first-floor apartment shortly after.

"Upon entering that location, they observed in quicktime four individuals that were apparently the victims of gunshot wounds," Shea said, amid conflicting reports about the cause of death of all victims. Some outlets suggest all victims were shot dead, however the Associated Press reports that the man found dead in the first-floor apartment had his throat slashed. Shea highlighted that he only gave a "very active and very preliminary statement," with more to definitive answers to come as the investigation continues. At least one source told the New York Post that the deceased man had both sustained a gunshot injury and his throat slashed.

A weapon used in the incident was reportedly recovered, CBS New York reported, and police are working on determining if people in the relevant area had placed 911 calls with related information to the victims.

"There are calls that we believe are going to be related to that building, but it's a little preliminary," Shea said.

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Police have released no official information about the identity of the four people killed in the incident, however a neighbor described the resident of the Queens apartment as a jovial man and a physical therapist by trade.

"He was the happiest person I've ever seen," Steven Levine, who lives in the apartment upstairs, told the Post. "He has parties in the backyard—a tall, happy guy." The newspaper cites unnamed sources who claim the deceased resident recently had family and financial problems, though investigators have not commented on this.