BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (Reuters) - Three men were in police custody on Monday in connection with a quintuple murder at a bullet-riddled house in a working class neighborhood near downtown Birmingham, police said.

The bodies of five people shot dead were found early on Sunday morning at the home, which was riddled with bullet holes,

in the Ensley Highlands area, the Birmingham Police Department said.

Neighbors said they saw five bodies carried out of the neat white house with green trim and placed in coroner vans.

Police were interviewing possible witnesses about the killings in the usually quiet neighborhood of cottages about 5 miles west of downtown Birmingham.

(Reporting by Peggy Gargis; Writing by Barbara Goldberg; Editing by Paul Thomasch)