Invitation to farm meeting ends in horror for family

Dispute between neighbours alleged to be behind shooting of four

As a small Queensland community reels from a horror mass shooting, more questions are being raised about the motive behind the shocking crime.

Mervyn and Maree Schwarz and her son Graham Tighe were killed on remote farmland in the town of Bogie, Australia, on Thursday.

Ross Tighe — Graham’s brother — survived the shooting and is fighting for his life. He was in a serious but stable condition at Mackay Hospital after suffering a single gunshot wound in his stomach.

Police have a 59-year-old man in custody and charges were expected to be laid against him yesterday afternoon. He is believed to be a long-term resident.

Two other people, understood to be family members of the man, were in custody yesterday, but have since been released.

An alleged dispute between the family and their neighbours is at the centre of the Bogie investigation.

Queensland Police Acting Superintendent Tom Armitt revealed an invitation had been extended for the two parties to meet at the gate between the properties on Thursday morning after a conversation that had occurred the night before.

“I can’t go into detail, but what I can say is that there was an invitation for them to go there and discuss,” Armitt said.

Emergency crews were called to a property in Bogie — a small outback mining town in the Whitsundays near Collinsville — on Thursday.

Three people were confirmed to be dead after police were notified of reports that multiple people had been shot in the area.

Ross Tighe, the only member of his family to have survived, was found in a vehicle at Flagstone.

Police said he managed to alert them to the shooting after escaping the scene and travelling “many, many kilometres” while suffering from a gunshot wound.

Two of the people who were spoken to by police were reportedly wind-farm contractors who happened to be near the property at the time. They were released on Thursday night.

Two other people, family members of the 59-year-old man in custody, have also now been released.

The man still in custody was found by police on the property after the shooting.

An alleged neighbourhood dispute is forming a major part of investigations, Armitt said.

Mervyn and Maree Schwarz and Graham Tighe had bought the 300sq km property only in May last year, according to the Daily Mail.

They paid A$10 million ($11.06m) for the land, which is zoned for cattle grazing, breeding and farming purposes.

“What we do know is that the parties involved are neighbours and some conversation has occurred between the parties and resulted in a meeting up of the parties at the boundary line in the early hours of [Thursday] morning when the incident occurred,” Armitt said.

“We are talking properties of the size of tens of thousands of acres and between the two properties in question it’s actually a 45-minute drive between the neighbours,” the superintendent explained.

“At the crime scene, which is at the front gate of one of the premises, it is a 3km drive between the gate and the house at that location.”

Mike Brunker from the Whitsunday Regional Council said that others in the Bogie community have “certainly” heard about a dispute between the neighbours.

“I will talk to the inspector this morning about what I certainly know and I probably would leave it at that,” he said.