Six people were found dead near a bullet-riddled SUV in a remote desert area of San Bernardino County on Tuesday night.

The Sheriff’s Department said deputies were sent to an area off of Highway 395 outside the community of El Mirage for a wellness check about 8:15 p.m. and found five bodies. The sixth was found Wednesday morning, sheriff’s spokeswoman Mara Rodriguez said.

The department did not say Wednesday whether the victims had been shot but said it is investigating the situation as a homicide.

Two vehicles, a blue Chevrolet Blazer SUV with shattered windows and bullet holes and a white SUV, were parked at the crime scene about a quarter-mile west of Shadow Mountain Road.

The area has well-groomed dirt roads and sagebrush 3 to 6 feet high amid rocks, sand and dirt.

Television helicopter footage showed yellow evidence markers near an intersection of roads in the scrubby desert land that stretched for miles. Yellow crime-scene tape blocked access from the nearest paved road.

The department had not announced the ages and genders of the victims, which vehicles they had been in and precisely where the bodies had been found.

Sheriff’s homicide investigators and forensic technicians were at the scene, about 3 miles west of Highway 395 and 50 miles north of San Bernardino.

Decca Miller, who works at Wild Desert Tours a few miles east of the 395, said there is only one home and several trails in the area of the slayings. She said the few people who live in the vicinity are aware of the crime but don’t remember seeing the six people that day.

The Shadow Mountain ghost town is about 3 miles west of the crime scene. The Silver Lakes Country Club is 15 miles east.

The nearest community with a significant population is Helendale, with 5,600 residents. It is 12 miles to the east.

The nearest large city is Victorville, about 26 miles to the southeast, with a population of 136,000

Detectives ask anyone with information about the crime to call them at 909-890-4904.