Some neighbors thought they heard fireworks around the time the Bears game started at noon Sunday, so they thought nothing of it. Twelve hours later, Mundelein police were called to perform a well-being check on Wellington Avenue after loved ones suddenly became unreachable.

It quickly became painfully obvious that the firecrackers had been gunshots, and those neighbors had been in the line of fire.

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Four people were murdered and the gunman fatally shot himself on Sunday in a village of 30,000 not accustomed to mass murder crime scenes - a town named a century ago for a beloved man of peace, Chicago Catholic Archbishop, Cardinal George Mundelein.

Authorities on Monday afternoon had not released the identities of the dead but said two of those killed lived in the home.

NBC 5 Investigates has examined property records that establish the home is owned by veterinarians 77-year-old Rebecca Schmidt and her 80-year-old husband, James, who lived there. Their 51-year-old son, Bryan, is also listed as an owner.

Their family business: the Northern Illinois Cat Clinic in nearby Libertyville.

Son Bryan ran the business until records show it was suddenly dissolved last spring.

Another daughter, 44-year-old Kimberly, is also a veterinarian, and CEO of her own holistic practice in Napa Valley, California. It's believed she requested the well-being check on her family home 2,100 miles away. When reached by NBC 5 Investigates on Monday afternoon, her husband, Malcolm, said he would not have a conversation about the situation.

Police have also taken an interest in a car found in the parking lot of a funeral home that is adjacent to the Schmidt house. It is registered to 22-year-old Maclaine Schmidt, granddaughter to the Schmidt elders, who is believed to have been in the home during the shooting.

The Lake County Coroner on Monday evening was conducting autopsies on the shooter and the four people he killed. The coroner will release all five names after post-mortems are finished. Because this spurt of violence ended with suicide, n
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