Three shot dead in custody row

A man shot dead three people in Pennsylvania after confronting his wife about custody arrangements for their daughter.

After the shooting, Kevin Cleeves fled with his four-year-old daughter Leia before they were found about 250 miles away in Ohio, authorities said today.

Cleeves was trying to contact his wife yesterday to make arrangements to pick up Leia, but when she did not answer the phone, he went to a house in Quincy Township, the Record-Herald reported, citing court records.

Police said Cleeves, 35, found a woman and man sitting in a car and began arguing with them. When he was asked to leave, he opened fire, killing them and another woman before taking his daughter, authorities alleged.

An alert was issued last night but was cancelled hours later when the pair were found in Austintown in north-eastern Ohio, outside Youngstown.

Cleeves was arrested. Police had said earlier that Cleeves should be considered “armed and dangerous as well as suicidal”.

Cleeves was charged with three counts of criminal homicide today, according to court records.

Police would not release the names of the victims or their relationship to Cleeves, but said more details would be released later today.