In response to news that a family of three adults and five children were found shot to death on Jan. 4 inside a house in southwest Utah, the White House released a statement touting President Joe Biden’s “historic executive action” on gun control.
“The President and First Lady are mourning with the Enoch City, Utah, community in the wake of a tragic shooting that has reportedly claimed the lives of five children and multiple adults in their family home,” the Jan. 5 statement read.
“Too many Americans have lost loved ones or had their lives forever changed due to gun violence, and gun violence remains the leading cause of death for children in America,” the statement continued. “Less than one month after we marked 10 years since the Sandy Hook tragedy, another mass shooting has claimed the lives of five more children in Enoch City.”
Biden has taken “historic executive action to reduce gun violence, including actions to promote safe storage of firearms and prevent suicide,” a White House spokesperson said.
The statement referenced the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act that Biden signed in 2021, calling it “the first significant piece of gun safety legislation in nearly 30 years.”
“This act helps communities implement new tools to reduce gun violence, including extreme risk protection orders to temporarily remove firearms from people determined to be a danger to themselves or others,” according to the statement.
“The President believes there is more to be done to keep our homes, schools, and communities safe, including enacting an assault weapons and high-capacity magazine ban to get weapons of war off our streets, requiring safe storage of firearms, and closing the dating violence restraining order loophole in our gun background check system.”
Police discovered the eight bodies after responding to a welfare check at a home in Enoch City, a press release from city officials announced.
Located around 245 miles south of Salt Lake City, Enoch City is a rural community northeast of Utah’s border with Nevada and Arizona.
Rob Dotson, Enoch City manager, said in a Jan. 4 statement that his community is mourning the family’s deaths.
“It’s hard to describe in words the emotions that are going through the people who live here,” Dotson said. “We all know this family. Many of us have served with them in church, in the community, and gone to school with these individuals.
“And so, this community at this time is hurting,” Dotson added. “They’re feeling loss; they’re feeling pain. They have a lot of questions, which is natural, and they’re here to support.”
At this time, it’s unknown when the deaths happened or why the shootings occurred, according to Enoch City officials.
Who requested the welfare check and when it happened remain unclear, officials added.
Investigators from Iron County, Enoch City, and Cedar City are trying to find answers about the tragedy, Dotson said.
“We won’t know the mindsets, the thoughts, of the individuals who experienced this tragedy,” Dotson said. “But we all can pray that their families and the neighbors can come to an understanding of what happened in this place, probably within a day or two or maybe longer.”
