A family of five and their dog were found dead in a home in Duluth after police stopped them.

Five members of a family and their dog have been found dead in a home in Duluth, which the sheriff describes as an ‘unimaginable tragedy’.

Neighbors told The Minnesota Star Tribune that a family of four lived there, with two teenage girls.

The fifth dead person in the home, a man, is a suspect, Fox 21 reported.

Initially, police were called to a property about seven miles away, for a welfare check at 11:18 a.m. in the Duluth suburb of Hermantown.

When no one responded, Hermantown police contacted their Duluth colleagues, who were warned that a person in the home could be armed.

Duluth police then surrounded the home in their city’s East Hillside district.

Police Chief Mike Tusken said the property was known to police.

Police in Duluth, Minnesota, were called to a home in East Hillside County on Wednesday

Officers were alerted on the outskirts of Hermantown, who were initially called to a welfare check at a facility in Hermantown. Unable to find an answer, they informed Duluth authorities

Heavily armed police with shields are seen arriving at the East Hillside home in Duluth

Tusken said his officers conducted ‘a methodical search of the premise.’

They were eventually able to enter the house and found 5 dead bodies as well as a dead dog.

Rick Adamski told the Star Tribune that family are ‘nice people.’

“I couldn’t believe it,” he said.

The house has a Small Free Library in the front yard, and sleighs and carriages sit nearby.

Emily Larson, mayor of Duluth, tweeted: ‘Tonight we are a community of pain and shock, sharing the sadness of the loss of our people.

‘My heart, like yours, is absolutely aching for the pain of loved ones and the fear that everyone may have to go through on their last day here with us.’