By NBC News, msnbc.com staff and news service reports
Updated at 1:11 p.m. ET:
PONTIAC, Ill. -- The Associated Press reports a neighbor saw an Illinois?woman shoot at her 10-month-old baby before apparently killing herself.
Authorities have said five people, including two children and a baby, were killed in a murder-suicide, but they haven't identified the shooter. The bodies were found Friday in Emington, a small farming community about 80 miles southwest of Chicago.
Livingston County coroner identified the victims as: Sara McMeen, 30; her children, Skyler Lemke, 8, Ian Lemke, 7,?and 10-month-old Maggie Warren; and boyfriend, Daniel Warren, 29.
Neighbor Annelise Fielder told The Associated Press that she heard a round of shots Friday afternoon and ran outside to her backyard.
She sawMcMeen?in the next yard, hovering over her baby as if she'd dropped her. Fielder asked McMeen if everything was alright, and "She looked at me and said, 'No, everything is not alright.'"
McMeen fired a shot at the infant, "and then I just ran," said Fielder, a town trustee. Fielder said she didn't see or hear what happened after that, and she didn't see any of the other victims.
Earlier:
PONTIAC, Ill. -- Five people, including a baby and two children, who were found shot to death in a small Illinois farming town were killed in a murder-suicide, authorities said Saturday.
Livingston County coroner Michael Burke identified the victims as: 30-year-old Sara McMeen, 29-year-old Daniel Warren, 8-year-old Skyler Lemke, 7-year-old Ian Lemke and 10-month-old Maggie Warren.
Livingston County Sheriff Martin Meredith said McMeen was the mother of all three children, and he described Daniel Warren as her live-in boyfriend.
Authorities would not identify the shooter.
Read complete coverage from NBC Chicago
Meredith said a semiautomatic pistol was recovered at the scene.
At a Friday evening press conference, Meredith did his best to allay the fears of a shaken community.
"As your sheriff, I want to assure the residents of Livingston County that you are safe from any harm and we are not looking for anyone in this crime," he said.
Neighbors said the family recently moved to Emington, a town of about 100 people southwest of Chicago.
Slain kids
Meredith said the two older children attended school in nearby Saunemin, where Skyler was in second grade and Ian was in first grade.
Meredith said first responders found the bodies after Livingston County dispatchers received a call Friday afternoon.
Ronald Groetsema lives near the home where the family was found and said he heard six to eight gunshots, then heard a second round of four to six shots a few minutes later.
Groetsema's 12-year-old son got off the school bus with the children who died, he said.
"They were happy because it was the last day of school before Christmas break," Groetsema said.
NBC Chicago and the Associated Press contribued to this report.
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Source: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/17/9519269-illinois-sheriff-5-killed-in-murder-suicide
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