FAMILY OF 7 SHOT DEAD
TRAGIC MURDER-SUICIDE ROCKS RURAL WEST AUSTRALIAN TOWN
Seven members of the same family were gunned down in their West Australian home yesterday in an apparent murder-suicide.
It’s believed the victims were Cynda and Peter Miles, their daughter Katrina and her four children Taye, 13, Rylan, 11, Arye, 10, and Kadyn Cockman, 8.
Police were last night working on the theory the man who called them to the property, near Margaret River, was the gunman and that he was also among the dead.
The incident is the worst mass shooting in Australia in 20 years.
SEVEN people from the same family, including four children, have been gunned down in Australia’s worst mass shooting in more than two decades.
Cynda and Peter Miles are believed to have died at their farm, Forever Dreaming, in Osmington near Margaret River, Western Australia, yesterday.
Their daughter Katrina and her four children — Taye, 13, Rylan, 11, Arye, 10, and Kadyn Cockman, 8 — were also killed.
All five were found dead in a shed, which had been converted into living quarters.
Police discovered the bodies when they were called to the property just after 5am yesterday.
WA Police Commissioner Chris Dawson said the person who made the call was a man.
Police were last night working on the theory that the man who made that call was the killer and among the dead.
Two firearms were found by officers confronted by the appalling scene.
Within hours, police said they were looking for no one else in connection to the tragedy.
Mr Dawson said the incident was one of the worst the force would ever have to deal with.
“The loss of any life is tragic, but four children and three adults, this is a significant tragedy,” he said,” he said. “This devastating tragedy will no doubt have a lasting impact on the families concerned, the whole community and in particular the communities in the southwest.
“These tragedies take their toll on everybody.”
Margaret River Shire president Pamela Townshend said the family was well known and well liked in the area.
“This incident has shocked our local community to the core,” Ms Townshend said.
“As a small and close-knit community, many people are likely to know or be connected in some way to the deceased. What happened today will have a huge ripple effect across our community.
“Coming together at this difficult time is extremely important.”
Cynda and Peter Miles were well known in the Margaret River area — she for her extensive community involvement and he for his farm maintenance business.
Katrina was also known locally and her four children had been or were students at Margaret River Primary School.
They had also been homeschooled. All four were believed to have been autistic.
Their father Aaron Cockman was a local carpenter and builder.
It is understood the pair had been involved in an acrimonious split, which had led Katrina and the children to move in with her parents on the 12ha property.
The Miles’ farm will now become the scene of an intense forensic investigation, with police on the ground estimating they could be there for up to five days.
Before yesterday, the most recent mass shooting in Australia involved the 2014 deaths of five people — Kim Hunt, 41, her children Fletcher, 10, Mia, 8, and Phoebe, 6 and Geoff Hunt, Kim’s husband, and the children’s father.
That was later ruled a murder-suicide.
Before that, it was the 1996 Port Arthur massacre, in which 35 people died.