Mass killing in Australia

SYDNEY: Australian police are investigating a mass killing after finding seven dead people, including four children, in a rural town in the Margaret River wine-growing region yesterday.

The bodies were found at or near a property in Osmington, Western Australia’s Commissioner of Police Chris Dawson said, adding firearms were found and there appeared to be gunshot wounds. “I can only describe it as horrific.”

Gun crime in Australia fell sharply after strict controls were introduced in response to a mass shooting in 1996, when a gunman killed 35 in Tasmania.

That prompted the government to buy back or confiscate a million firearms and make it harder to buy new ones.

The latest killings could prove to be the single biggest incident of gun-related deaths since 1996.

Police said they went to the property after getting a telephone call. “The telephone call we’ve recorded,” said Dawson, who would not comment on the identity of the caller. He said homicide detectives were helping police. – Reuters