WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A 14-year-old American boy shot dead five members of his family at their home in Alabama, then threw the gun away and called police, officials said on Tuesday.
A spokesman for Limestone County Police Chief's office told media, including an ABC unit, that the shooting took place on Monday evening in the town of Elkmont.
Three of the five died at the scene and two later died in hospital, the police chief's office said.
"The 14-year-old caller was interrogated and confessed to shooting his five family members at home," he wrote on Twitter.
"He is now helping investigators locate the weapon, a nine-millimeter pistol that he said he threw nearby," it said.
It was not clear where he got the gun.
This follows a wave of mass killings in the United States, including the killing of seven people and the injury of 22 in Texas over the weekend, including a baby.
A gunman last month killed 22 people and wounded 24 in El Paso, Texas, and another attacker killed nine people and wounded 27 in Dayton, Ohio.
With renewed nationwide debate, US President Donald Trump said this week that checking the data and background of arms buyers would not have prevented recent violence.