GUATEMALA CITY – Seven members of a family, including two children, were shot dead Tuesday by unidentified individuals in a village outside Villa Canales, a city about 22 kilometers (about 14 miles) south of Guatemala City, police and emergency services officials said.

The massacre occurred in the early morning hours in Las Escobas while the family slept, deputy police chief Cayetano Chuc and fire department spokesman Sergio Vasquez said.

A group of heavily armed men burst into the Gonzalez family’s modest dwelling and opened fire with rifles.

Maria Concepcion Gonzalez, 50, her son, Enrique Gonzalez, 24, daughter-in-law Sandra, 25, and granddaughter Julissa, 8 months, died in the attack, Vasquez said.

The other family members killed in the attack have been identified as Encarnacion Gonzalez, 18, Roberto Gonzalez, 25, and Israel Gonzalez, 8, officials said.

Enrique Gonzalez’s 4-year-old son, Leonel, was wounded in the left hand and three other children inside the house escaped unharmed, police said.

One of the survivors, identified only as Kevin, told radio stations that around 30 men entered the house and opened fire.

The people killed in the attack were members of the Gonzalez family and the massacre was linked to a land dispute, a relative, identified only as Maria Consuelo, said.

“I heard the screams and the shots. We got up to look, but the individuals had already fled. They wore black hats and gloves,” the woman said.

The seven victims were all related and lived in a house made out of sheets of zinc, Chuc told reporters.

Prosecutors and National Civilian Police officers are investigating the massacre. EFE