CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Two young children and their mother were victims Wednesday night of what Joliet police say was a murder-suicide.
It was after 10 p.m. Wednesday night when a neighbor said she heard "terrified screaming."
Officers responded to a call around 10:19 p.m. to a call of people shot inside a house in the 500 block of Whitley Avenue, according to a news release from Joliet police. They discovered the bodies of a male, a female and two young children on the second story.
Family members identified the victims as 1-year-old Giovanni Lee and 6-year-old Gianna Lee and their mother, 28-year-old Jacquelon Gaskin. Each had been shot.
Gaskin's mother, Rusha Brooks, said the father of the children, her daughter's long-time boyfriend, Brandyn Lee, shot everyone before taking his own life.
Officials said they died in a "domestic incident" and said autopsies for all four of them were scheduled for Friday.
Brooks said her daughter was trying to get away from him.
Police said there is no threat to the public and no one else is being sought in reference on the incident.
"Anytime a person is killed, it's a heartbreaking situation. But when children are killed, it's incomprehensible," Joliet Police Chief Al Roescner said in a statement. "My heart goes out to the family of the victims."
The Will County coroner's office confirmed their identities and scheduled autopsies.
Anyone struggling with mental health issues can seek help by calling 911, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at (800) 273-8255 or by texting "home" to 741741.
Sun-Times Media Wire & Chicago Sun-Times contrivuted to this report.
