Australian police found seven dead people on Friday, including four children, in a rural town in the Margaret River wine-growing region, and said guns were involved in the killings.
The bodies of four children and three adults were found at or near a property in Osmington near the southwestern tip of Australia, Western Australia’s Commissioner of Police Chris Dawson told a news conference on May 11.
Dawson said two firearms were found at the scene. He said there appeared to be gunshot wounds.
The ABC reported that the deaths are being investigated as a murder-suicide. However Dawson was unable to confirm this when asked at the press conference.
“I can only describe it as a horrific situation,” Dawson said.
“It was a significant tragedy.
“We have no information to raise concern about wider public safety issues at this point in time.”
Police said they went to the property just after 5am after getting an emergency call from a “male person” connected to the property, the ABC reported.
“The reason police went to the property was from a telephone call which we’ve recorded,” said Dawson, who would not comment on the identity of the caller.
He said homicide detectives were helping police and could not provide further details as the investigation is ongoing.
Australia’s last mass shooting was in 1996, when a lone gunman killed 35 people in Tasmania.
Australia has banned all semi-automatic rifles and all semi-automatic and pump-action shotguns, and has a restrictive system of licensing and ownership controls.
