A family of seven including four children was found dead with gunshot wounds Friday at a rural property in southwest Australia in what could be the country's worst mass shooting in 22 years, police and news media said.
The children died with their mother and grandparents. The three generations had moved in 2015 to Osmington, a village of fewer than 700 people near the tourist town of Margaret River, to grow fruit, media reported.
Police forensics investigate the death of seven people in a suspected murder-suicide in Osmington, east of Margaret River, south west of Perth, Australia Friday, May 11, 2018. Seven people including four children were found dead with gunshot wounds Friday at a rural property in southwest Australia in what could be the country's worst mass shooting in 22 years, police said. (Richard Wainwright/AAP Image via AP)
Police would not comment on the possibility of murder-suicide, but said they are not looking for a suspect.
After being alerted by a phone call before dawn, police found the bodies and two guns at the property, Western Australia state Police Commissioner Chris Dawson said. Police wouldn't say who made the call.
The bodies of two adults were found outside a house and the others were found inside. They all resided at the property, he said.
Police said they have no information that would raise concerns about wider public safety, suggesting a shooter is not at large.
"Police are currently responding to what I can only describe as a horrific incident," Dawson told reporters.
"This devastating tragedy will no doubt have a lasting impact on the families concerned, the whole community and, in particular, the local communities in our southwest," he added.
Police were attempting to make contact with the victims' relatives, Dawson said. He declined to release the names or ages of the dead.
Philip Alpers, a Sydney University gun policy analyst, said the tragedy appeared to be the worst mass shooting in Australia since a lone gunman killed 35 people in Tasmania state in 1996, prompting the nation to introduce tough gun controls.
Police Commissioner Chris Dawson addresses the media in Perth, Friday, May 11, 2018. Seven people were found dead with gunshot wounds at a rural residence in southwest Australia in what could be the country's worst mass shooting in 22 years. (Rebecca Le May/AAP Image via AP)
Australia's gun laws are widely acclaimed as a success, with supporters including former U.S. President Barack Obama saying Australia has not had a single mass shooting since they were implemented.
The generally accepted definition of a mass shooting — four deaths excluding the shooter in a single event — has been met only once in Australia since then. In 2014, a farmer shot his wife and three children before killing himself.
Police have revealed few details about the recent killings, and it is not clear whether there was more than one shooter.
Farmers are allowed to own guns under Australian law because they have a legitimate need to use them to kill feral pests and predators or sick or injured livestock. But automatic and semi-automatic rifles and shotguns are banned from public ownership.
Osmington is a collection of a few streets, farms, vacation accommodations and vineyards supplying the premium winemaking district known as Margaret River.
Samantha Lee, chair of the Gun Control Australia lobby group, said rural areas were over-represented in Australian gun deaths, including suicides.
"Regional and rural areas are particularly vulnerable to these sorts of tragedies, because of the combination of isolation, sometimes mental or financial hardship and easy access to firearms," Less said in a statement.
"Although the details of this tragedy are yet to come to light, Australia has a tragic history of higher rate of gun deaths in rural areas," she added.
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — The Maine Legislature approved sweeping gun safety legislation including background checks on private gun sales, waiting periods for gun purchases and criminalizing gun sales to prohibited people before adjourning Thursday morning, nearly six months after the deadliest shooting in state history.
Democratic Gov. Janet Mills and the Democratic-led Legislature pressed for a number of gun and mental health proposals after the shooting that claimed 18 lives and injured 13 others, and most were adopted despite the state’s strong hunting tradition and gun ownership.
“We heard loud and clear from Mainers across our state that they wanted meaningful action to make our communities safer from violence, and I’m so proud that we had the courage take meaningful steps that will get us closer to making that a reality," the House assistant majority leader, Rep. Kristen Cloutier, a Democrat from Lewiston, said Thursday in a statement.
The governor will sign her bill, approved early Thursday, that would strengthen the state’s yellow flag law, boost background checks for private sales of guns and make it a crime to recklessly sell a gun to someone who is prohibited from having guns, said Ben Goodman, a spokesperson. The bill also funds violence- prevention initiatives and opens a mental health crisis receiving center in Lewiston.
The governor will review two other bills narrowly approved by the Senate on Wednesday to establish a 72-hour waiting period for gun purchases and a ban on bump stocks that can transform a weapon into a machine gun, Goodman said.
However, there was no action on a proposal to institute a red flag law. The bill sponsored by House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross would have allowed family members to petition a judge to remove guns from someone who is in a psychiatric crisis. The state’s current yellow flag law differs by putting police in the lead of the process, which critics say is too complicated.
Lawmakers pushed through the night and into the morning as they ran up against their adjournment date, which was Wednesday. But it didn't come without some 11th-hour drama. Lawmakers had to approve a contentious supplemental budget before casting their final votes and didn't wrap up the session until after daybreak.
The Oct. 25 shooting by an Army reservist in Lewiston, Maine's second-largest city, served as tragic backdrop for the legislative session.
Police were warned by family members that the shooter was becoming delusional and had access to weapons. He was hospitalized for two weeks while training with his unit last summer. And his best friend, a fellow reservist, warned that the man was going “to snap and do a mass shooting.” The shooter killed himself after the attack.
Survivors of the shooting had mixed feelings. Some wanted legislative action. Others like Ben Dyer, who was shot five times, were skeptical of the proposed laws.
“A sick person did a sick thing that day. And the Legislature and politicians are trying to capitalize on that to get their agendas passed,” said Dyer, who contends law-abiding gun owners are the ones who would get hurt by the proposals while criminals ignore them. The state already had a yellow flag law but law enforcement officials didn’t use it to prevent the tragedy, he added.
His feelings echoed the view of Republicans who accused Democrats of using the tragedy to play on people’s emotions to pass contentious bills.
“My big concern here is that we’re moving forward with gun legislation that has always been on the agenda. Now we’re using the tragedy in Lewiston to force it through when there’s nothing new here," said Republican Sen. Lisa Keim. “It's the same old ideas that were rejected year after year."
But Democrats said constituents implored them to do something to prevent future attacks. They said it would've been an abdication of their responsibility to ignore their pleas.
“For the sake of the communities, individuals and families now suffering immeasurable pain, for the sake of our state, doing nothing is not an option,” the governor, a former prosecutor and attorney general, said in late January when she outlined her proposals in her State of the State address. Those in attendance responded with a standing ovation.
FILE - A make-shift memorial lines Main Street, Nov. 3, 2023, in Lewiston, Maine. The Maine Legislature has approved sweeping gun safety legislation early Thursday, April 18, 2024, nearly six months after the deadliest shooting in state history. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)
FILE - Law enforcement officers stand near armored and tactical vehicles in Bowdoin, Maine, following a mass shooting, Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023. The Maine Legislature has approved sweeping gun safety legislation early Thursday, April 18, 2024, nearly six months after the deadliest shooting in state history. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)
FILE - A man walks by flowers and a sign of support for the community, Oct. 28, 2023, in the wake of the mass shootings that occurred on Oct. 25, in Lewiston, Maine. The Maine Legislature has approved sweeping gun safety legislation early Thursday, April 18, 2024, nearly six months after the deadliest shooting in state history. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)
FILE - The Maine State House stands at sunrise, March 16, 2023, in Augusta, Maine. The Maine Legislature moved in fits and starts toward adjournment on Wednesday, April 17, 2024, with unfinished business including final votes on a series of gun safety bills that were introduced after the deadliest shooting in state history last fall. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)
