PHOENIX — A man and woman have been found dead in Apache Junction after an apparent murder-suicide, police said Monday.

They said officers were called to the scene about 8 p.m. Sunday after a 13-year-old boy said his father had just shot his mother several times.

“He was frantic, he wanted to get some officers out there as soon as he could,” Michael Pooley, Apache Junction police chief, told KTAR News 92.3 FM.

Police said the man and his wife both had gunshot wounds and were declared dead.

Investigators believe the man shot his wife before turning the gun on himself.

Pooley said two younger siblings of the 13-year-old boy, a boy and a girl who were under the age of 10, were also in the home at the time of the incident.

“I can’t imagine what they are going through but they are physically safe and they are with family members right now,” Pooley said.

Pooley added the older brother did the right thing and told his younger siblings to stay out of the room where the shooting happened.

“You could hear him on the phone telling his brother and sister to stay in the bathroom and not to come out as he’s there with his mom trying to hold her hand and talk to her,” Pooley said.

“When we got there, the older brother was in the back room with his two younger siblings, keeping them comforted as much as he could and trying to do everything he could to keep them feeling like they were safe.”

The names and ages of the man and woman weren’t immediately released.

KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Debra Dale and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

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