Police Chief Richard Brady said that the Kims had all been shot in the head, and that a .38-caliber semiautomatic handgun was recovered at the scene. Diana Kim and her daughters appeared to have been asleep or ready for bed, Brady said.
``The time of death has not been estimated yet,'' Brady said at a news conference. ``It could have been Friday, we really don't know.''
There was no suicide note, Brady said, and an investigation was continuing to determine a motive for the shootings. Police said the gun was near Steven Kim's body.
Montgomery County Coroner Halbert E. Fillinger Jr., who was performing the autopsies last night, said Diana Kim had been shot twice in the head. Her daughters and her husband each had one gunshot wound.
A woman who stopped to retrieve mail from the Kims' mailbox after investigators left yesterday would not comment on their deaths. Two cars sat parked in the driveway in front of the beige home with green shutters, which was cordoned off by yellow police tape. A heart-shaped wreath with yellow and white flowers hung on the door.
News of the family's deaths shocked neighbors in the well-manicured Westgate development, in which the Kims had lived for about a year and a half. Kathy Grosso, who lives next door, said she had talked to them only a few times.
``They were very quiet. They kept to themselves pretty much,'' she said. ``We didn't ever know what they did.''
Grosso said she heard the Kims arguing sometime last week while she was standing on her front porch. She did not think much of it until she saw police cars outside their home yesterday.
``We all argue,'' she said. ``They weren't super loud. I couldn't hear what they were saying.''
Other neighbors also said they knew little about the Kims, though they saw their daughters leaving for school in the mornings. Angela Kim was a fifth grader at Montgomery Elementary School, while Victoria Kim was in the eighth grade at Pennbrook Middle School.
