The remains of seven people, including four children, were found on Friday morning at a rural property near the south-west coast of Australia.
Two firearms were also found at the scene. Police say that at least some of the victims appeared to have been shot during the incident, which detectives are investigating as a potential mass murder-suicide.
The grisly discovery was made in Osmington, 170 miles south of Perth. The rural outpost, near the small town of Margaret Falls, is home to just a few dozen families.
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At a press conference today, Western Australia police commissioner Chris Dawson said that an unidentified male had called the emergency services at around 5.15am local time to alert them to an incident at the property.
Police arrived on the scene to find the bodies of two adults outside the house. Inside, they found the bodies of four children and a third adult.
“This is a tragedy – I don’t think any other words can describe how tragic this is,” Dawson said. Police are expected to remain at the scene for several days as part of what he’s calling “a very large-scale and detailed investigation”.
The incident is “the worst mass shooting in Australia since the 1996 Port Arthur massacre in which 35 people died,” ABC reports.
Investigators say they’re not looking for any suspects and are treating the killings as a murder-suicide.
Katrina Miles and her children, three boys and a girl aged between eight and 13, have been identified as among the victims.
The Australian reports that a month ago, Miles complained on Facebook about an ex “stalking” her.
Local council chief Pamela Townshend says that Osmington, which is home to less than 150 people, is in shock at the gruesome mass shooting in their midst.
“It’s a very small community. Everyone knows everyone,” she told Perth Now.
Felicity Haynes, who lives on the adjacent property to the crime scene, told ABC that her neighbours were a “caring” and “socially aware” family who had moved to Osmington from nearby Margaret River around three years ago in order to start a farm.
“They were just such lovely people,” she said.
