A man shot dead his wife and five children, as well as his mother-in-law, before turning the gun on himself, two weeks after divorce papers were filed, according to Utah authorities.

Police also said that officers had investigated Michael Haight, 42, and his family a “couple of years prior,” over problems inside the household in the small farming town of Enoch.

Wife Tausha Haight, 40, was found dead along with the suspected gunman and their three daughters, aged seven, 12, and 17, and two sons aged four and seven. Also killed was Ms. Haight’s mother, 78-year-old Gail Earl.

All the victims were found inside a house with officials believing Michael Haight shot the other members of his family before himself.

Court records show that Ms. Haight filed for divorce on December 21 and her lawyer said on Thursday that Haight had been served with the papers six days later. The reasons for the divorce were unknown, in part because Utah law keeps details of divorce proceedings sealed from the public.

The eight bodies were found at the family home in Enoch ( 

(Getty Images)

Investigators know about the divorce petition but not if it was the motivation behind the killings, Mayor Geoffrey Chesnut said.

Enoch is made up primarily of large families that belong, like most in Utah, to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, known as the Mormon church.

The Haight family were Mormons and well known with many residents having served in church alongside them or went to school with the children, city officials said.

“This is a tremendous blow to many families who have spent many nights with these individuals who are now gone,” Mayor Chesnut said.

City Manager Rob Dotson said the community was “feeling loss, they’re feeling pain and they have a lot of questions.”

Haight's mother-in-law Gail Earl was among the dead image source - facebook

Ms Haight and other members of the family were seen the night before the killings at a church group for young women, Mayor Chesnut said.

Police found the bodies on Wednesday afternoon in a welfare check.

James Park, who represented Tausha Haight in the divorce case, said she had not expressed fear that her husband would hurt her. He added he met with Ms Haight twice, mostly recently last Tuesday, and said she “was an incredibly nice lady.”

The White House said in a statement that President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden were mourning with the Enoch community. It called for further steps to reduce gun violence, now the leading cause of death for children in the US.

Ms Haight’s Facebook page showed pictures of the family looking happy in picturesque settings of Utah, and in front of a large statue of Jesus.

Jennie Earl, who is Tausha’s sister-in-law and a member of the Utah State Board of Education, posted a photo on Facebook of Tausha and her children and wrote about the “stiff competition” to be their favourite aunt.

“I pray that Christ’s love will mend our broken hearts and fill us with forgiveness and peace,” Earl wrote.

Community members who gathered at Enoch City Hall to listen to Thursday’s news conference said it was wrenching to have to tell their own children that their peers may not be at school the next day.

“We told them last night,” said city councilman Richard Jensen, a father of eight. “We gathered them around for a family prayer type of thing. We told them a family in town, everyone had been killed and when they show up to school tomorrow it’s possible kids will be missing.“