Seven found slain at Australian rural property

CANBERRA — Seven people, including four children, were found dead from gunshot wounds at a property near the tourist town of Margaret River in Australia’s southwest on Friday in what could be the country’s worst mass shooting in 22 years, police said.

Police said they responded to an early-morning phone call and arrived to find a “horrific incident” in the small town of Osmington near the world-renowned wine-growing area south of Perth.

Seven bodies and two guns were found at a rural property at the village of Osmington, Western Australia state Police Commissioner Chris Dawson said.

The bodies of two adults were found outside a building on the property and the rest were found inside. They all resided at the property, he said.

Police have no information to raise concerns about wider public safety, Dawson said.

Homicide detectives were investigating but police were not looking for a suspect — suggesting a murder-suicide although that was not confirmed.

“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 victims’ relatives, Dawson said. He declined to release the names or ages of the dead.

This could be the worst mass shooting in Australia since a lone gunman killed 35 in Tasmania in 1996, prompting the nation to introduce tough gun controls.

Australia’s gun laws are widely acclaimed as a success, with supporters including former US 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 whether there was more than one shooter in Friday’s incident.

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.

Regular shotguns and rifles are permitted, but automatic and semi-automatic weapons are banned from public ownership.