A 42-year-old military veteran, Charles Slacks, Jr., has reportedly killed two children he shared with his ex-wife and two others in South Carolina, U.S.
He launched the attack on Tuesday in Sumter, which is about 45 miles east of Columbia.
The domestic mass shooting claimed four lives in total.
According to authorities, a military veteran allegedly gunned down three children and an active-duty soldier.
Slacks, 42, allegedly shot the soldier, who was sitting in the backyard, and then killed the three children, two of whom were his own, Sumter Police Chief Russell Roark said at a news conference Wednesday.
Slacks then died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Roark said.
Slacks’ ex-wife was the only survivor, the chief said.
The children were ages 5, 6 and 11, Roark said.
Police only identified the adult victim as a 38-year-old active-duty Army member, citing the military’s need to notify next of kin.
