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Lockhart shootings: body and firearm pulled from dam after family killed | Lockhart shootings: body and firearm pulled from dam after family killed |
(35 minutes later) | |
A body has been recovered from a dam in the NSW Riverina region following the shooting deaths of a woman and her three children. | |
Farmer Geoff Hunt has been missing since the bodies of his wife Kim, 41, and his children Fletcher, 10, Mia, eight and Phoebe, six, were discovered at a property near Wagga Wagga on Tuesday. | |
Police divers entered a dam on Wednesday afternoon and pulled out a body a short time ago. | |
A firearm was also found in the dam. | |
Police said the body had injuries “not inconsistent with the others”. | |
Police earlier said the scene at the Lockhart homestead was “horrific” and like nothing they had ever encountered. | Police earlier said the scene at the Lockhart homestead was “horrific” and like nothing they had ever encountered. |
“I don’t think even the most hardened professional could remain unmoved by what’s out there,” Wagga Wagga local area commander Superintendent Bob Noble said. | |
“It’s certainly not something I’ve encountered anything similar to before, and I hope not to ever again.” | “It’s certainly not something I’ve encountered anything similar to before, and I hope not to ever again.” |
Ambulance officers and police found the bodies of the woman and her children on Tuesday afternoon. | |
All four are believed to have died after suffering gunshot wounds, although post mortem examinations are still to be conducted. | |
The children were found inside the home and Mrs Hunt’s body was found on the footpath outside. | |
The Hunt family were well loved by the local community, Noble said. | |
“It’s going to send quite a shock wave through those communities and throughout the whole area,” he said. | |
“These people were well integrated into the local community through work, through social events, through sport. Three young children attended the local school. | |
“It is going to devastate everyone.” | |
Lockhart mayor Peter Yates said the 900-strong town community was in severe shock. | |
“It’s just really, really, really traumatising,” he said. | |
Deputy mayor Roger Schirmer said the mood was sombre. | |
“They were a highly regarded, solid family. It will rock this town,” he said. | |
Mrs Hunt had just returned to nursing in April after recovering from a serious car accident two years ago. | |
“A lovely person, a lovely family,” Schirmer said. | |
The local parish priest, Father Tony Schipp, said nobody in town had suspected anything was amiss with Geoff Hunt. | |
“He was happy. He was making arrangements for events that were coming up, that he was going to be part of,” Schipp said. |
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