A teenage boy in the US state of New Jersey was in police custody Monday after being accused of gunning down his family on New Year's Eve with a semiautomatic rifle, authorities said. Police were called to a home in the city of Long Branch, about 55 miles (90 kilometers) south of New York, at 11:43 pm Sunday in response to a report of shots fired and found four people dead, Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni said in a statement.

The victims were the suspect's father Steven Kologi, 44; mother Linda Kologi, 42; sister Brittany Kologi, 18; and family friend Mary Schultz, 70. The suspect's brother and grandfather were apparently unharmed.

They "thankfully left the home and came out OK," Gramiccioni said at a press conference Monday, according to ABC News.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2018