Woman and three children between the ages of nine months and 11 are found dead in Oklahoma’s ‘suicide by triple homicide’ – after another woman was taken hostage, leading to hours-long standoff with police

Four people, including children, have died in what has been reported as a triple suicide following an hours-long standoff with police in a small Oklahoma town.

The incident occurred Friday in the town of Verdigris, a town of just over 5,000 people about 20 miles east of Tulsa.

Police received a report around 4 p.m. local time that a woman was being held hostage in a garage near Cypress Street and Dogwood Court, according to the Rogers County Sheriff’s Department.

They were able to make contact with the woman, who said she was being held by another woman who had a gun, along with the hostage-taker’s three children.

The police officer was able to rescue the woman before calling for backup, Verdigris Police Chief Jack Shackleford said.

Shackleford noted that they had been to the woman’s home several times in the past for both domestic incidents and mental health calls.

At around 7:30 p.m., authorities finally entered the woman’s home, where they found her and her three children dead.

State Police and the local Cherokee Nation SWAT team supported local law enforcement in their efforts.

The woman and her children have yet to be identified, but the children are between nine months and eleven years old.

The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation has taken over the investigation 2 News Oklahoma reports is a triple suicide after a standoff of more than two hours.

DailyMail.com has contacted the Rogers County Sheriff’s Department and the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation for comment.