AKRON, Ohio — Five children and two adults died in an Akron house fire early Monday morning, fire officials said.
The fire was reported shortly before 3 a.m.
Fire Chief Clarence Tucker said the department is working with the state fire marshal’s office and Akron police to determine the cause of the blaze. Investigators from the fire marshal’s office collected evidence at the house.
The fire occurred just a block from a home where a man and a woman died in an April 2016 fire investigated as a possible arson.
Akron is about 30 miles south of Cleveland.
In a separate development, authorities in Kirkersvilled, Ohio, were trying Monday to piece together the events that led to a nursing home shooting that left four people dead, including the suspected gunman.
Kirkersville Police Chief Steven Eric DiSario, nurse Marlina Medrano, and nurse’s aide Cindy Krantz were killed in the Friday attack. Investigators released little new information over the weekend.
Suspect Thomas Hartless was found dead inside the Pine Kirk Care Center in Kirkersville, a village of some 500 residents, about 25 miles east of Columbus.
Authorities have said they are looking into the relationship between Hartless and Medrano, who had obtained civil protection orders against him in connection with domestic violence cases.
DiSario headed the Kirkersville Police Department for only about three weeks, Licking County Sheriff Randy Thorp said. He was the father of six children, with a seventh on the way, the sheriff said.
Hartless was released from jail in April after his latest domestic violence case in March.
ASSOCIATED PRESS