ANOTHER MASS MURDER CASE SHOCKS WA

FIRST responders yesterday discovered the bodies of up to five people, including women and children, in horrific scenes that have shaken the Perth suburb of Bedford.

A man yesterday handed himself to police at a regional station in Western Australia just hours after police arrived at the grisly scene in the city’s northeastern suburbs.

The man, said to be in his 20s, was last night in custody and undergoing questioning.

Assistant Police Commissioner Paul Steel said the event would ripple through the com- munity of Western Australia.

“This is a tragic event and it will no doubt have an impact not only on the family and friends of the deceased but for the whole of the community,” he said. He did not confirm the exact number of dead, nor did he detail what the relationship was between the man in custody and the deceased.

He also did not say whether weapons had been found.

Mr Steel said the investigation was still at a “very early stage” but there was at least one woman among the dead.

“The homicide squad cur- rently have teams of detectives on the ground, accompanied by specialist forensic police who are meticulously working their way through this crime scene,” he said.

The tragedy comes after a 19-year-old man was charged with murdering an eight-year- old boy, a 15-year-old girl and their mother in the Perth suburb of Ellenbrook in July.

In May, seven people were found dead at Margaret River. A mother, her four children and two grandparents were the victims of a mass shooting on a rural property.