Eight people, including five children, have been found dead from gunshot wounds in a southern Utah home, according to authorities who did not provide more details or a potential motive for the killings.

The victims were found on Wednesday when police did a welfare check at the residence, according to a statement by city officials in Enoch, a small town of about 8000 people located about 400 kilometres south of Salt Lake City.

Police said they did not detect any threat to the public.

Enoch City manager Rob Dotson said the community was sent reeling by news of the eight bodies and that the deceased, all members of one family, were well known in the southern Utah town.

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“Many of us have served with them in church, in the community and gone to school with these individuals,” Mr Dotson said in a video statement on Wednesday night.

“This community at this time is hurting.

“They’re feeling loss, they’re feeling pain and they have a lot of questions,” Mr Dotson added, noting that officials planned on releasing more information as it becomes available and the police investigation progresses.

Welfare checks based on calls to the police department like the one that led them to the residence where the bodies were found are routine when individuals are not seen for extended periods of time, Mr Dotson said.

The five children attended schools in the Iron County School District, officials said in a letter sent to parents.

Utah Governor Spencer Cox offered condolences in a tweet on Wednesday night.

-AP