Four people, including two small children, were found dead in a house in Komatsushima, Tokushima Prefecture, on Monday evening, the result of what police believe was a murder-suicide.
A 62-year-old woman was found hanged, while her 34-year-old daughter, 6-year-old grandson and 3-year-old granddaughter were found collapsed around 6:30 p.m., police said.
After receiving an emergency call from the son-in-law, who found the bodies, firefighters rushed to the house, but the four were already dead. The daughter suffered head injuries from an assault, police said, adding they found a bloodstained hammer at the scene.
Since there were no signs of a break-in, police believe the grandmother took her own life after killing her daughter and grandchildren. She had been seeing a psychiatrist.