A woman and her ex-partner have been found stabbed to death, while their three children slept upstairs, police have said.
A 19-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder and West Midlands Police said three young girls, aged 11, eight and seven, were also found unharmed in the house in Walsall in the West Midlands where they had been sleeping.
Officers were called to the address by the ambulance service at 3.50am today to find a 32-year-old man and a 29-year-old woman, who are believed to be former partners, both dead.
Although a post mortem examination has yet to be carried out, detectives believe both victims died as a result of stab injuries.
Police officers have also recovered a weapon at the house in Hollemeadow Avenue, and a murder investigation has been launched.
A spokesman for the force said: "A 19-year-old man who was at the house when officers arrived has been arrested on suspicion of murder to enable detectives to formally question him over the circumstances surrounding the deaths."
Detectives have been carrying out house to house enquiries and forensics officers are at the scene in a bid to try
and establish what happened.
The children are being cared for by friends.