Police are seen patrolling Bondi Beach in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, in August 2021. A gunman is at large in New South Wales, Australia Thursday after killing three people and injuring another. File Photo by Dan Himbrechts/EPA-EFE
A gunman is at large in New South Wales, Australia Thursday after killing three people and injuring another.
One of the victims, a woman, is believed to be the gunman’s former partner in what is suspected to be an act of domestic violence. Another victim, a man, was found in a car in Lake Cargelligo in New South Wales Central West.
The gunman also shot two people in a home in Lake Cargelligo, killing a woman and seriously injuring a man. The man is in stable condition.
Police have identified the gunman and a search is underway.
Reports of the Lake Cargelligo shootings first came in at about 4:40 p.m. local time. Lake Cargelligo is a small town with a population of about 1,500 people.
“Any death in a small country town is confronting, but again, a scene where you have people shot by firearms is obviously going to make people very, very tense and very concerned,” said Andrew Holland, New South Wales assistant police commissioner. “The scene faced by the emergency services officers at that time would have been horrendous.”
Residents in the Lake Cargelligo area are directed to stay indoors away from windows and report any suspicious behavior while the search for the gunman continues.
Thursday’s shooting comes about one month after the Bondi Beach shooting. Fifteen people were killed in that shooting during a Hanukkah celebration.
On Tuesday, Australia’s parliament passed a gun reform package in response to the Bondi Beach shooting. The package included new gun import restrictions, a plan for a national gun buyback program and deeper background check requirements.
