WA Police have confirmed the identities of the seven people found shot dead at a rural property in Margaret River on Friday, as investigations continue into the suspected murder-suicide.
The three adults and four children were three generations of the one family.
WA Police Commissioner Chris Dawson said formal identification is yet to be completed, but police believe the deceased to be Peter John Miles, 61, Cynda Miles, 58, Katrina Miles, 35, and her four children Tae, 13, Rye, 12, Ari, 10, and Kayden, 8.
Katrina Miles and her four children. Source: Facebook
Police have recovered three firearms, all long arms, at the crime scene. All of the guns are licensed to grandfather Peter Miles.
Commissioner Dawson stressed that police are not looking for any suspects.
"We're not looking for anyone else outside of the situation that we've encountered. My answer to you is that there are six persons deceased as a consequence of what I would describe as a homicide scene. There's a seventh person found deceased."
Police scour a WA rural property where the bodies of seven people were found. Source: SBS
The investigation into the suspected murder-suicide of seven people, including four children, has entered its second day as detectives try to piece together what happened at the rural West Australian property.
Commissioner Chris Dawson did not go into more detail about a phone call made to police by a man at the property just after 5am.
He said detailed forensic investigations were being carried out.
"This is a complex criminal investigation. We are treating this as a matter in which clearly six persons are subject of a homicide crime scene. There is a seventh person deceased. It's far too premature for me to come to any conclusive statement about that."
Police said the body of one adult was found near a shed that had been converted to living quarters, while the children and the other adults were discovered inside when police were called to the property just after 5am on Friday.
The commissioner would not speculate on the motive.
A local resident who did not want to be named said the family was "hugely respected".
"I can't imagine just how disturbed someone is, how they could do that," he told AAP.
Augusta-Margaret River Shire president Pamela Townshend said the people on Osmington Road were a tight sub-community.
"There's a lot of giving each other vegetables, cooking each other meals, looking after each other when they're ill - very connected in deep ways," she told AAP.
A forensic investigation into what happened at the WA rural property is continuing. Source: Kyle Brown
"Such a horrific killing is going to affect our community very deeply. We're all connected to each other one way or another."
On the farm's website, Cynda Miles wrote of watching her grandchildren play with the animals, describing it as the family's "forever farm".
"It is here that we will grow as much of our food as we can, sit on the veranda and watch the birds, and watch the grandchildren immerse themselves in the animals and everything else that happens on a daily basis," she wrote.
Town in mourning
Residents of the small Western Australian community of Osmington are in mourning after seven family members were found dead in a suspected mass shooting.
The rural property where seven people were found dead on Friday. Source: Kyle Brown
The bodies of Katrina Miles, her parents Cynda and Peter Miles, who owned the rural property, and her four young children, were found about 5.15am Friday.
The close-knit community, located about 20km from popular tourist destination Margaret River, has revealed their shock at the suspected murder-suicide.
“I love them dearly, they were very good neighbours of mine,” neighbour Felicity Haynes told radio station 2GB
Meg Janes, who lives near the Miles' property, said she heard gunshots at the time of the shooting, but thought it was kangaroos being targeted.
“Something woke me up around 4am. I heard quite a few gunshots and at the time I didn’t take much notice of it. I got up and went to the toilet and I thought, ‘That’s a bit strange, that’s an odd hour to be shooting kangaroos’,” the 68-year-old told The West Australian.
“There’s a lot of kangaroos around so it’s not unusual, although not at that time of the morning. It wasn’t until I saw the police that I thought, ‘Hang on a minute’. (The shots) were separated out, there was quite a long gap between them. It wasn’t one after another.”
Other locals said the family had moved to Osmington from Margaret River several years ago. They were known for their volunteer and charity work.
- with AAP.
