5 dead, including gunman, after standoff in Washington state

The five dead include the gunman, who shot himself after a standoff that lasted hours.

A Mason County SWAT team is responding to a 911 call about four people shot in the Belfair area.

The Mason County Sheriff’s Department said on Twitter a 12-year-old girl managed to escape but it’s unclear what, if any, relationship she has to the shooter.

They say as officers arrived on scene the suspect shot and killed himself.

Mason County Sheriff’s Chief Criminal Deputy Russ Osterhout looks down a road near the scene of a fatal shooting Friday, Feb. 26, 2016, near Belfair, Wash.

Jack Pigott, who lives down the road, said he heard gunshots Thursday night but none Friday.

Osterhout said he believed the four victims were all found in one area on the property, away from the gunman.

Authorities said there were 11 structures on the property, local broadcaster KING5 reported.

Authorities negotiated with him for hours before they entered the home and found the victims.

Pigott says the husband had a heating and air conditioning contractor business. The girl had been adopted from China when she was a baby, and two older boys had been adopted from Russian Federation, he said. They said she will be taken in by Child Protective Services, until family members can be notified.

Mason County Sheriff Casey Salisbury said the gunman shot and killed himself in front of deputies.

The shooting took place in Belfair, Washington.

It remained unclear when the four people found shot to death inside the home were slain.