Uncommon gunfight kills six, together with two law enforcement officials, in rural Australia By Reuters

SYDNEY (Reuters) -Six individuals, together with two law enforcement officials, had been killed in a gunfight at a distant property in Australia’s Queensland state, authorities mentioned on Tuesday, after police visited a house there to analyze a lacking individual report.

When 4 officers arrived about 4:30 p.m. on Monday on the property in Wieambilla, about 300 km (186 miles) northwest of Queensland’s capital, Brisbane, two armed individuals opened hearth and killed two of them, police mentioned, with out figuring out the suspects.

Police mentioned there was then a “siege” on the home, with out elaborating. Police mentioned 16 specialist officers responded and, in a gun battle about 10:30 p.m., killed a 46-year-old man from Kewarra Seashore, about 1,500km northwest of the property; and a 47-year-old man and a 45-year-old lady, each from Wieambilla.

The slain law enforcement officials had been Constable Matthew Arnold, 26, and Constable Rachel McCrow, 29, police mentioned. The gunfire additionally killed a 58-year-old neighbour, police mentioned, with out offering the individual’s title.

Two different officers had been taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening accidents, police mentioned.

Arnold and McCrow had gone to the house after a lacking individual report was filed in New South Wales for an individual regarded as on the property.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described the incident as a “horrible and a heartbreaking day”.

Gun crime is comparatively uncommon in Australia, which applied a number of the world’s hardest gun legal guidelines after a gunman killed 35 individuals in April 1996 at a restaurant and vacationer web site on the former colonial jail of Port Arthur within the island state of Tasmania.

Queensland Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll mentioned the capturing was the biggest lack of life in a single incident the state police have suffered in latest occasions.