Vic man to front court over triple murder
A man will front court charged with murder over the shooting deaths of three members of one family in a small Victorian town.
Wedderburn man Ian Francis Jamieson, 63, was charged with three counts of murder on Thursday night.
He faced an out-of-sessions hearing at Bendigo police station about 10pm (AEDT) and was remanded in custody.
Peter Lockhart and his wife Mary Lockhart, aged in their 70s, along with Mrs Lockhart's son, 48-year-old Greg Holmes, were killed in the incident.
Police responding to a dispute on Wednesday night found the body of Mr Holmes in a paddock at a property near Wedderburn in north-west Victoria.
Peter Lockhart, his wife Mary and stepson Greg Holmes were shot dead following an apparent neighbourhood dispute. Photo: Bendigo Advertiser
The officers then heard gunshots from an adjoining property across the road, and retreated and cordoned off the area before a lengthy negotiation ended in surrender.
A second body was found in a driveway and the third at the rear entrance to a home.
Detective Superintendent Peter De Santo said a minor neighbourhood dispute had escalated out of the blue.
"It's got out of hand from a minor dispute - with tragic circumstances. It's just very hard to fathom how this has all unfolded," he told reporters in Wedderburn on Thursday.
There was no history of violence, major disputes or ongoing assaults between the neighbours, he said.
"There is some history of minor disputes in the past and when I say minor, at the very bottom end of disputes between neighbours," Det Supt De Santo said.
He would not detail the nature of the disputes.
The incident happened 2km from Wedderburn, a town that's home to 1000 people, in a small settlement called Logan.
Jamieson will appear in Bendigo Magistrates Court on Friday.
Community in shock
Yesterday, Loddon Shire mayor Gavan Holt said everyone involved was well known throughout the community and small town, home to 1000 people.
"Both the victims and the person in custody are well known," he told AAP.
"They are prominent local families.
"I'm being told that this was a long-running neighbourhood dispute over matters occurring on land which has escalated far beyond where it should have gone."
Mr Holt it was a horrible and shocking event but the community would rally.
"Everybody knows everybody, everybody supports everybody.
"That's how country people work.
"Friends and neighbours will provide enormous moral support, all you can do is be there for them."
Local federal MP Andrew Broad said rural communities stand by one another in such times.
"When something like this happens it does shake at their fabric," he told Fairfax Radio.
Logan resident Rosie Camilleri said she was unaware of any dispute in the small town and said it was a big shock.
"It's a pretty quiet town here. Everyone gets along pretty well. It must've been something that was brewing for a while."
