Nicola Sturgeon has described the events on Skye and Lochalsh where a person was killed and three were hospitalised following a series of attacks as "horrific and devastating".
The First Minister said the entire country will be thinking of the communities hit by the attacks on Wednesday morning.
A man who died following shooting incidents on Skye and Wester Ross yesterday which left three injured has been named by cops as John MacKinnon, 47.
At a press conference earlier today police said the other people who were injured were a 32-year-old woman and a 63-year-old man remain in hospital.
A 63-year-old woman who was taken to hospital has subsequently been discharged.
Following the attacks a 39-year-old male was arrested in connection with all of the incidents, which police said they believe are linked.
Speaking for the first time since the attacks, Sturgeon said: "My thoughts are with those most directly affected by what has been a horrific incident on Skye. I want to convey that strength of feeling to those individuals and families who will have been devastated by what has happened.
"Obviously, the kind of incidents that happened yesterday would have been horrific and devastating in any part of the country.
"But the kind of communities we're talking about here are small, close-knit communities and that sense of devastation will be felt even more acutely."
She added: "Everybody, I know, across Scotland will be thinking of the communities affected on Skye right now."
Speaking at the press conference Chief Superintendent Conrad Trickett said: "A 39-year-old man has been arrested in connection with all of the incidents, which are being treated as linked, and there is no threat to the wider community.
"The thoughts of myself and colleagues across Police Scotland are very much with the family and friends of Mr MacKinnon and the three people who remain injured.
"These incidents took place in a close-knit rural area and have a significant impact not only on those directly affected but also friends and their neighbours living in these communities.
"Serious incidents witnessed yesterday are extremely rare and I would like to further reassure the local communities that they were dealt with and there is no further threat.
"The policing response was significant, as people would expect, and involve national resources from across Police Scotland, including Inverness, Aberdeen, Dundee and Glasgow. Officers were drafted from all these locations to support division officers and police locally in Skye."
