The shooting deaths of a 15-year-old boy and his 58-year-old father, Wayne Smith, in Yamba on the New South Wales north coast are being treated by police as a murder-suicide.
Officers are investigating the circumstances of the deaths after being called to a home on Kookaburra Court shortly after 1pm on Thursday following reports that two bodies had been found by a close family member.
The pair were located in the home with gunshot wounds. Detectives do not believe anyone else was involved.
Supt Shane Cribb on Friday described the incident as “tragic” and noted the impact it would have on the community.
He said there was nothing to immediately indicate that anyone was in an unsafe situation before the deaths.
“Police will speak to a number of people … we’ll look at the history of both the father and the son, we’ll look at any family history, we’re looking at the school,” he said.
“We will go through the history of everything as much as you possibly can and will provide as much information as we can for the coroner.”
Cribb said family members were being offered assistance, as well as the boy’s school.
“We have been actively involved with a family right from the start,” he said.
“We have wrapped as much welfare around the families as we can, but we’ve also taken the welfare to another step and now we’ve got schools involved.”
Smith was a licensed firearms holder, and detectives have requested his licensing history from the NSW firearms registry. The gun found in the house was licensed to him.
Smith worked at the Port Authority of NSW before his death.
The authority’s chief executive, Philip Holliday, said support was being provided to Smith’s colleagues.
“Our sincere thoughts and condolences are with the family, friends and colleagues at this time,” he said.
A report will be prepared for the coroner.
Thursday’s deaths come after a three-year-old boy was allegedly stabbed to death at an apartment in Riverwood in Sydney on Wednesday.
The premier, Chris Minns, has assured the public that any legal changes required to better protect people against domestic violence would be made, after the incidents have been investigated.
“There’s genuine community anxiety and angst about these latest events and we will do everything we can to keep people safe,” Minns said on Friday.
“If there are law changes that need to be pursued, that’s exactly what we’ll do.”
Jodie Harrison, the NSW minister for the prevention of domestic violence, made a plea during question time in parliament on Thursday asking people to stand up against domestic violence.
“The impact on families and communities is nothing short of devastating,” she said.
Harrison said there was an “urgent need” for systems that detected the early signs of domestic violence before incidents escalated.
Separately, a 34-year-old woman was found dead in a Liverpool apartment on the weekend after an alleged domestic dispute.
In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is at 988 or chat for support. You can also text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis text line counselor. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
