Police investigate triple homicide in Kansas City, Kan.

Kansas City, Kan., police Tuesday morning were investigating the killings of three men at a duplex at 1129 Tenny Avenue.

Police Chief Terry Zeigler tweeted shortly after 10:30 a.m.

That is near Pearson Elementary School.

Officer Patrick McCallop, a spokesman for the Kansas City, Kan., Police Department, said officers responded about 10:15 a.m. to check the welfare of people living inside the duplex.

An officer said a woman came to the address Tuesday morning and discovered a body near the front door of the duplex. She called the police and then left the scene.

Police arrived and found three bodies on one side of the duplex. They appeared to be adults. Police were waiting for a warrant to search the home.

Detectives were canvassing the neighborhood to ask if anyone saw or heard anything. Anyone with information is asked to call the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS (8477).

"It's a tragedy when we lose one in an incident, but losing three at one time and not knowing why is difficult," Zeigler said Tuesday afternoon during a monthly Facebook Live program.

Kids who live with their mother in a duplex next door to the homicide scene heard gunshots about 10 Monday night, said the children's father. His son thought the shots sounded like they were right outside a bedroom window.

His 13-year-old daughter called her mom, who was away, to tell her about the gunshots. When the mother and the man returned to the home, they checked outside but didn't see anything.

About 9:30 Tuesday morning, the man went to his children's house and saw one of the victims lying on the floor next door with the door open.

"I thought he might’ve just been passed out,” the man said. “I wasn’t for sure.”

The man said he had never seen the guy before. He said he didn't know who lived in the duplex except for seeing them in passing as they came and went.

“I just saw him laying on the floor with no shirt on,” he said.

The man left. By the time he went back to the home later Tuesday morning, the police were there.

The Star is not naming the man because he is a witness to an unsolved crime.

“That was really close,” he said. “My kids sleep in that room right there, on that side by their door. So it makes me worry about their safety a lot more now.

“It kind of makes you wonder and worry a lot more,” Saunders said. “It’s usually pretty quiet around here normally.”

The Star's Max Londberg contributed to this story.

This story was originally published April 3, 2018 at 10:59 AM with the headline "Police investigate triple homicide in Kansas City, Kan.."