The gunman who shot dead three members of one family and fatally injured another is still at large, as police search desperately for the perpetrator.
The tragic incident took place at about 9am on Thursday at a rural home in the small mining town of Bogie, about 25 miles west of Bowen in the Whitsundays region of northern Queensland. Just over 200 people live in the municipality.
Police said the gunman is still in the area, and locals said they should be on the alert.
A fourth victim of the attack was also shot, but the man in his thirties miraculously survived but was flown to Mackay Hospital in critical condition with a gunshot wound to the stomach.
All four victims are members of the same family.
According to local residents, this is not the first time that there has been a problem between those involved. It is believed that the incident was linked to a property dispute over boundary lines between the owners of two properties in the area.
Police say the investigation is still in its early stages and the identity of the shooter is not yet known.
Three people have died while a gunman is still at large in North Queensland. A fourth person was also shot in the stomach and taken to hospital in critical condition
“We are actively searching the area and starting our investigation into what the circumstances were and why these people had been shot,” Acting Superintendent Tom Armitt told reporters.
“At this stage, we are at a very, very early stage of this investigation. We don’t know who is responsible.’
Police have not yet released the gender and age of the victims.
The injured man was able to find his way to another house – which police said was “many, many miles” from where the shooting took place in a remote site – and contacted authorities.
He was flown to Mackay Base Hospital to undergo emergency surgery and is now in intensive care in a serious but stable condition.
“He was able to tell the police that he had been shot and three others (were) shot as well,” Inspector Armitt said.
“We think the male managed to free himself from the area. He fled from the scene.’
“Originally, when the male person spoke to us, he was clearly in a very distressed state and there was some confusion about where the shooting had taken place.
“We were able to search ourselves based on the scant information provided and we had to update the location where the incident took place based on the crime scene we locate.”
A rescue helicopter has been dispatched to Bogie in rural Queensland after four people were injured in a shooting
Four people were injured in a shooting in Bogie, near Bowen in northern Queensland
After searching the area where the injured man was found, police deemed the location safe “and a further exclusion zone has been established on an area along Shannonvale Road where the shooting is believed to have taken place”.
The shooting took place on a vast cattle ranch that is “rural, remote, very hilly and heavily wooded.”
“It took several hours for the police to search and clear the area, but we have declared a crime scene in the remote rural location where we believe we have found three people who died,” Inspector Armitt said.
Neighbors say the property was sold to a young family last year and there was an ongoing dispute with a neighboring owner of the property over boundary lines.
An emergency declaration was issued for the area around 11:30 a.m.
“The circumstances leading up to the shooting are still under investigation,” the police said.
“Police are currently conducting emergency operations in the area and are asking local residents and aircraft not to visit the indicated location.”
Police are clearing the “extensive” property and will remain in place “as long as we have to do our job,” Acting Superintendent Armitt said.
Although no other people live in the exclusion zone, police have urged everyone to avoid the area.
A woman who works on Peter Delamothe Road, which connects Bogie to Bowen, previously told Daily Mail Australia that she saw several police cars racing to the scene of the shooting.
“I saw at least three police cars while I was outside and then heard a few more sirens,” she said.
‘It’s usually not what you see. I immediately thought something bad had happened.’
The tragedy has shocked the local community.
“It comes as a big shock to that particular area and it is certainly very worrying,” Burdekin MP Dale Last said.
Whitsunday Regional Councilor Jan Clifford added: ‘To my knowledge nothing like this has ever happened before in the Whitsunday region.
“We are all deeply saddened by the tragedy.”
Cr Clifford said Bogie’s community – with a population of 207, according to the latest census data – was more of a community than a municipality.
‘It’s a small village. Everyone will know everyone… It’s just awful.’
Obviously, doctors and nurses with blood supplies and other medical supplies from Bowen Hospital have been sent to Collinsville Hospital to assist.
Up to eight ambulances were dispatched from Rockhampton, Mackay and Townsville.
Elly Colls, who works at Opal Ridge Motel, told the Guardian she learned of the incident at about 11 a.m. when someone called to let them know that there had been “a bogie shooting.”
“You better lock the house,” she said. “Because I don’t think (they) found him.”
Other locals described the shooting as “unusual” and “strange” for the usually peaceful environment.
“We are traditional owners of this land around Collinsville. I didn’t think it could happen here. It’s a small town,” one woman told The Courier Mail.
Another told AAP, “The whole town is a little upset that something like this can happen here.”
“We don’t know the whole story, but we certainly heard about it. It’s a small town, everyone knows everyone.
‘But outside in ‘the arch’? Well, it’s small.’
A helicopter has been spotted at the scene of a mass shooting in rural Queensland that left three people dead