Key Points
- A woman and a teenage girl have been killed by a man in Perth.
- Police said the man had been looking for his ex-wife, but instead shot her friend and 18-year-old daughter.
- WA Police Detective Inspector David Gorton said the man was known to police but did not have a history of violence.
A man looking for his former partner at a home in Perth’s west has instead shot the woman’s female friend and teenage daughter before taking his own life.
The 59-year-old woman died at the scene and the 18-year-old was critically injured and later died in hospital.
Detectives said the 63-year-old man had arrived at the property at about 4.30pm looking for his former partner, who was not there at the time.
WA Police Detective Inspector David Gorton said police were called to a property in the suburb of Floreat on Friday afternoon after reports of gunshots.
He said police had been on the street when the last shot was fired.
“We believe that last shot was the male taking his own life,” he said.
Gorton said the man was known to police but did not have a history of violence.
“Any death is tragic,” he said.
“However, when you get a multiple murder, it has that greater impact on the family, the friends, the first responders and certainly the community at large.”
Gorton said the man’s ex-wife and daughter were in the care of the homicide squad and were being provided with support.
“Obviously they are very distressed by these circumstances,” he said.
Police are not treating the shooting as family violence-related because the man and the mother were not in a relationship, despite having met on previous occasions.
The investigation is ongoing.
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