A mass shooting in Iowa on Monday, in which six people were killed by a man who then took his own life, is being investigated as a so-called “family annihilation” in which the murderer and victims are closely related.
Police in Muscatine, about 50 miles (80km) south-east of Cedar Rapids, said 52-year-old Ryan Willis McFarland fatally shot four people at a home in the city, then killed himself on a riverfront trail as officers spoke to him.
Two victims were employees of the Muscatine community school district, and two were students, said Clint Christopher, the district’s superintendent, in a “message to the school community” posted on Facebook.
Two other men also believed to be relatives of McFarland were later found fatally shot elsewhere in the city, according to Anthony Kies, the Muscatine police chief.
One man was found in his home and the other was discovered dead inside a business, Kies said at a press conference.
A preliminary investigation indicated the shootings “stemmed from a domestic-related dispute”, the Muscatine police department said in a statement.
It was the ninth mass murder of 2026 in the US, according to the Gun Violence Archive (GVA), which defines such cases as one in which four or more victims are killed with a firearm, excluding the attacker.
Research has shown that 94% of “family annihilations”, more commonly known as familicides, are committed by male perpetrators – and firearms are used in 86% of such cases.
Using data from the GVA, which tracks all reported shootings across the US, the Indianapolis Star determined in 2023 that this specific category of crime occurs on average once every five days.
In the three years to July 2023, the newspaper found, there were at least 227 familicides and 754 deaths. The analysis focused on two types of immediate family members: a spouse or partner, children, parents or siblings; and killings involving former spouses and partners, and stepfamily members.
Perpetrators killed themselves in 64% of the cases, as happened in Monday’s case. McFarlane was found to have left the residence when officers arrived and was traced to Muscatine’s riverfront walking trail.
Officers and emergency medical personnel attempted life-saving measures for what they said was a self-inflicted gunshot wound, but McFarland was pronounced dead at the scene.
Authorities have yet to release the names of the victims or any details about them.
An ABC television affiliate reported that at least two of the victims were children.
“Today I simply do not have the words,” Kies said. “This act of evil and what it has done to our community.”
The city’s police department is continuing to investigate the shootings, working to process the crime scenes and conduct interviews. Police have asked anyone with information to contact its major crimes unit.
Kies confirmed that McFarland had a criminal record did but not elaborate further.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed reporting
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