Police confirm family relationship between suspect, victims in Landfall triple homicide

Three people are dead after a shooting outside the Food Lion in the Landfall shopping center in Wilmington Saturday evening.

Police responded to reports of shots fired around 4 p.m. Saturday at 1319 Military Cutoff Road. When they arrived at the scene, officers found the bodies of two adults and one juvenile.

Another person was found alive with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The man is a suspect in the shooting, Wilmington Police Chief Donny Williams said in a statement to the media on Saturday. The man was transported to the hospital and is being treated for his injuries.

On Sunday morning, Lt. Leslie Irving, public information for the police department, said the investigation continued through the night and is still ongoing. After being taken into custody, the man was charged with three counts of first-degree murder and firing into an occupied vehicle.

There is a family relationship between the suspect and the victims, according to Irving, which has made notifications for next of kin difficult.

"It is the intention of the Wilmington Police Department to eventually release all family aspects of this homicide," Irving said.

Irving said the department is asking for patience as they work to contact surviving family members.

"This is a very unfortunate, tragic incident and our hearts and thoughts go out to the families that were impacted by this," Williams said.

Williams said this is an isolated incident and there is no continued threat to the community.

He said the investigation is in its very early stages and law enforcement will release further information as it becomes available. He declined to take questions following his statement to the media on Saturday.

"We know there are a lot of questions about what took place here today and our intentions are to be transparent and release as much information as we can while, at the same time being respectful and seeking justice for our victims," Williams said.

Reporter Sydney Hoover can be reached at 910-343-2339 or shoover@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Three dead after shooting outside Wilmington NC Food Lion Saturday