Six killed in Christmas Eve shooting near Seattle

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Authorities arrested a man and a woman on Wednesday after discovering six people, including two children, slain on Christmas Eve in a small town near Seattle.

"We still don't have a motive, as such, but the suspects are known to the victims," John Urquhart, spokesman for the King County Sheriff's Department, told reporters.

He said the suspects, a man and woman in their late 20s or early 30s, were arrested on suspicion of homicide but did not disclose their names. The suspects are expected to be charged later this week.

The six victims were killed by "homicidal violence," most likely from gunshot wounds, Urquhart said. Investigators are working on the assumption that the victims, found in the rural home in Carnation, Washington, were three generations of the same family.

The dead included a 6-year-old girl and a 3-year-old boy. Also found dead were a man and a woman appearing to be in their 50s and a man and woman appearing to be in their 30s.

Based on speaking with neighbors and friends, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer identified the two oldest victims as Wayne Scott Anderson, 60, an aerospace engineer, and his wife, Judy Anderson, a postal worker.

(Reporting by Daisuke Wakabayashi; Editing by Bill Trott)