Child survives as husband shoots mother and four children dead

A husband was on the run today after killing his new wife and her four children at the family home.

The bodies of the woman and children, aged three to 14, were found last night in various rooms of the house in Cleveland, Ohio, police said. A fifth child was wounded and being treated in hospital.

Davon Crawford, 33, who has a record of violent crime, was at the centre of a nationwide hunt police said. He is believed to be armed with a semi-automatic pistol.

"It's probably one of the worst multiple shootings that I've seen in a long time," said Police Chief Michael McGrath. "I've seen a lot of previous ones, but this ranks right up there at the top."

"He's a danger to the community, so we're putting the pressure on to locate him. The ideal thing is for this guy to turn himself in.

"This is bad. I mean, anytime you shoot children, it's bad. When children have to die, it's terrible.

"This gentleman is responsible for several children being murdered, pure and simple. It's tough for anybody to see this," said Mr McGrath.

The woman and children have not been named yet, but her father Lamar Arnold said outside the house: "They told me both my daughter and my grandchildren are dead.

"I don't want to talk about it. I just want to go to my grandson now. I want to see how he is, and that's all I care about now."

He said his newly married daughter had sent him an unusual cell phone text message at 7.47pm saying "Call me, live your life, love it."

"Then I tried to call her about 12 times, and there never was an answer," he said.