Authorities continue to piece together clues surrounding the death of four children allegedly gunned down by their father inside their home within a remote community on the Navajo Reservation.
Four children were killed. A fifth was critically wounded.All of the victims lay on the floor as if gathered for a family meeting, said Shawn Wooll, one of the first rescuers to arrive at the scene.
"The family was outside crying. The police officer, when we heard him call in the accident, he was obviously distressed," he said.
The scene was the most shocking one Wooll had seen in the 21 years he has lived and worked in the area. "It was pretty traumatic," he said.
The shooting occurred Sunday evening in a trailer owned by the arrested man, Norman Yazzie, 33, in the small reservation community of Dennehotso in northeastern Arizona.
Yazzie had been drinking alcohol, said authorities, who were awaiting the results of blood tests to determine whether he would be considered intoxicated under state law.
Yazzie's parents, Johnny and Lilie Yazzie, came over to their son's trailer after noticing smoke coming from two vehicles that were set on fire, Navajo officials said.
Outside, the grandparents encountered Norman Yazzie, who was holding a .22-caliber rifle believed to be the murder weapon.
The elder Yazzies called authorities after finding injured 10-year-old Rhyan Yazzie and the other children's bodies inside the trailer, where they noticed a strong smell of gasoline.
They tied Yazzie's hands behinds his back, but he managed to escape before authorities arrived.
Dozens of law enforcement officers from four agencies searched for Yazzie until around 7:30 a.m. Monday, when they found him hiding between two mattresses in a nearby hogan, a traditional Navajo dwelling.
When confronted by officers, Yazzie lunged at them with a knife before being taken into custody, said David Nez, director of the Navajo Division of Public Safety. None of the officers was injured.
Law enforcement officials said Rhyan Yazzie was in critical condition at Flagstaff Medical Center, where he was being treated for a chest wound.
The four dead children, as identified by tribal officials, were: Veneshia Yazzie, 15; Jazana Yazzie, 13; Cara Yazzie, 8, and Nathalie Yazzie, 8.
The children's mother, Cecilia Yazzie, was flown from Aztec, N.M., where she was visiting a sister, to Flagstaff to be with the surviving boy.
Neighbors of the couple told The Arizona Republic that Mrs. Yazzie was the breadwinner in the family and that her husband had not worked for years. They said she recently spoke to them about taking the children and moving in with her family.
Investigators would not speculate on a motive for the shootings.
"We're trying to be very careful not to make statements that are out of speculation and out of rumors or out of so-and-so said," said Dorothy Fulton, who heads Navajo Criminal Investigations. "We're basically sticking to the facts that we have."
Yazzie was transported to Flagstaff and jailed pending an appearance Tuesday before a federal magistrate on suspicion of four counts of murder and one each of attempted murder and aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer.
The FBI has jurisdiction along with tribal authorities because the slayings involved felonies committed on an Indian reservation.
Tribal President Albert Hale issued a statement expressing his "deepest sympathies to Cecilia, the grandparents and relatives."
"This is a very tragic situation. It reflects on some serious underlying issues, we as a Nation and people need to address," he said. He later explained that he would like to see the Navajo Nation kick in more money for alcohol rehabilitation.