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HOUSTON – Police were still trying to determine what happened to five people, including three young children, whose bodies were found Saturday afternoon in a home in rural northeast Houston.

Although a .22 caliber rifle was found in the lap of an adult male, whose body was found on the porch, police declined to speculate on whether this might have been a murder-suicide, saying it was still early in their investigation. Besides the gun, shell casings were found around his body, police said.

Houston police Sgt. John Chomiak said investigators believed all five people lived in the home. Neighbors said the five people were a husband, wife and their three children.

Police did not immediately release the identities of the victims.

The bodies of a woman between 20 and 30 years old and a boy thought to be about 10 were found in one part of the home, Chomiak said.

The bodies of a boy thought to be between 3 and 5 and a girl believed to be between 4 and 6 were found in another part of the home, described by authorities as a simple wooden structure that was divided in the middle by the porch. A wooden fence and large trees in the front block a view of the home from the street.

Houston police Lt. Dan Harris said a neighbor became concerned after seeing one of the family’s bulls running around unattended in the wooded area around the home.

The neighbor went to the front gate and spotted the remains of an adult male, believed to be between 20 and 30, on the porch. Police were called and broke down the gate, discovering the other bodies inside the home.

Harris said officials could not immediately determine causes of death, although there were no obvious signs of a struggle.

Neighbors said a family with three children had lived on the rural property for the last six or seven years. The father, who worked odd jobs, had built the home himself.

The man and his children were last seen alive on Thursday, police said.

Next-door-neighbor Sally Potts said she saw the man and the little girl walking one of the family’s four dogs on Thursday.

Potts said she hadn’t heard any arguing or unusual noise coming from the house.

Potts said she did hear gunshots on Thursday but didn’t pay much attention to them because gunshots can frequently be heard in their rural neighborhood.

Neighbors described the family as nice but private, saying they didn’t know where the family was originally from but that they usually spoke Spanish.

Potts said in the time she lived next to the family, she never once went into their home.

Maria Pardo, another neighbor, said she thought the family was doing fine.

“I never saw anything wrong with them,” said a teary Pardo. “(The mother) was always smiling. They were happy.”

Besides the dogs and livestock, the family kept a horse and several goats on the property, neighbors said.

The animals were being removed from the home by authorities.