Eight family members, including five children, were found dead Wednesday from gunshot wounds in a home in the US state of Utah, local authorities said, AP reported.

They didn't provide more details or a potential motive for the killings.

The victims were found when police did a welfare check at the residence, according to a statement by officials in Enoch, a small city of about 8,000 people located 245 miles south of Salt Lake City.

Police said they didn't detect any threat to the public.

Enoch City Manager Rob Dotson said the community was sent reeling by news of the eight bodies and that the deceased—all members of one family—were well known in the southern Utah town.

The five children attended schools in the Iron County School District, officials said in a letter sent to parents.