Washington ? A father apparently shot to death five of his children, ages 7 to 16, at their mobile home and then killed himself at a casino miles away, police said Saturday.

Ed Troyer, a spokesman for the Pierce County Sheriff, called it a domestic violence situation and a murder-suicide.

“We believe they all died of gunshot wounds,” Troyer said.

Auburn police found the father, dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in his car near the Muckleshoot Casino in Auburn, about 30 miles south of Seattle. Pierce County deputies checked the mobile home, which is about 20 miles southeast of the casino, and found four of the children dead in their beds and the fifth in the bathroom.

The mother of the victims was not at home, Troyer said. He said investigators believe the husband and wife were not estranged.