Manassas Park Police officers found 38-year-old Santosh Pariyar, 36-year-old Anju Shrestha, a 2-year-old boy and an 8-year-old girl dead when they conducted a welfare check at a townhouse on Lanae Lane around 10:40 p.m., WUSA reported.

Investigators recovered a firearm at the scene and are treating the incident as a murder-suicide, though they have not identified who they believe was the shooter.

"Very tragic. Poor children," neighbor Rula Brown said.

Residents in the area described the shock of learning about the deaths.

"The police were here, we couldn't sleep that much because it was unknown," said Mustafa Musaferzada, a neighbor. "We didn't know what happened."

As news spread through the community, friends of the victims gathered at the home seeking answers about what happened.

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