Taylor police: 4 dead in murder-suicide; another killed in separate shooting

Taylor police are investigating two unrelated shootings that left five people dead, including four people who died in an apparent murder/suicide, authorities said on Tuesday.

The names of the four people who died in the murder/suicide at at Taylor home are not being released until relatives are notified, police said. 

The name of the man who died in a separate shooting at another home is 33-year-old Jonathan Hitch, police said in a news release. 

Police responded to both incidents on Tuesday.

Officers received a request for a welfare check at 1:04 p.m. Tuesday at a home at 616 Symes St., the release said. 

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Police requested the help of firefighters for tools to get into the home because it was locked. Once inside, officers found the bodies of a 45-year-old woman, a 20-year-old woman, an 18-year-old man and a 57-year-old man, the release said. It said all were found had a gunshot wound to the head. 

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In the second unrelated fatal incident, officials said, police responded to a report of a shooting at 4:14 p.m. Tuesday at 2100 Whistling Way. They said a family member found Hitch dead from a gunshot wound to the head.

"Taylor detectives are investigating the shooting as a suspicious death," police said in the news release.

It said the Texas Rangers and the Williamson County sheriff's office are helping Taylor police with the investigations.