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Four men killed after gunman opens fire in Darwin

Four men have been killed in a shooting in Darwin when a gunman set off up to 20 rounds of a pump action shotgun.

A 45-year-old man was arrested after being on the run for about an hour following the shootings in and around a hotel in Darwin's CBD.

NT Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw told reporters the man was known to police and was on parole after being released in January.

“He is an individual who is well known to police and has a number of interactions, adverse, with the police force,” Comm Kershaw said.

“So, he is well known to us.”

An ambulance officer stands in the dark outside a workshop in Woolner. It follows a shooting in Darwin on Tuesday night which left four people dead.
Ambulance officers outside a workshop in Woolner following a shooting in Darwin on Tuesday night. Source: AAP

When asked if he was wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet, the commissioner said, “I believe he was”.

The incident started with reports of a man firing a sawn-off pump action shotgun about 5.50pm on Tuesday.

The shooting unfolded in the CBD and the offender was described as armed and dangerous.

While originally one person was believed to have died with two people with gunshot injuries, police now say four men are dead. A woman was also injured.

Facebook user John Rose said he witnessed a man "shoot up” the Palms Motel.

"He was wearing high-vis, we found one person in the rooms that he shot up. Scary," Mr Rose wrote.

"We witnessed the man walk through the hotel shooting 10 times and then get into his truck and drive away.”

A man is pictured in the back of a police wagon following a shooting in Darwin.
A man in custody following the shooting. Source: Nine News

A witness told the ABC she ran to get towels for a woman shot in the legs.

“She had little holes, like little holes all in her skin on both of her legs and she was bleeding everywhere,” she said.

“The guy with the pump-action shotgun ran down towards The Gardens.”

Another witness told the ABC the man “walked room to room shooting every room”.

Leah Potter, who was staying in a hotel nearby, told The Australian a man ran towards carrying a bleeding woman.

“He dropped her on the footpath in front of us,” Ms Potter told the paper.

A police car is seen at the intersection of McMinn Street and Stuart Highway in Darwin at night following a shooting.
Officers at the scene on the intersection of McMinn Street and Stuart Highway in Darwin. Source: AAP

Local man Matt James helped patch up a woman who had been shot in the leg near the motel.

"She was caught up in it, she said 'I've been shot, I don't know why, I don't have anything to do with anything.' She was hysterical obviously," Mr James told AAP.

Speaking in London, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the shooting was a "terrible act of violence".

"I just want to extend my deep condolences and sympathies to all the people in the Territory and particularly in Darwin," Mr Morrison said.

"This is a very tight community and I know they will be rocked by these events."

He added the government had received advice the shooting was not an act of terrorism.

Police earlier said the suspect was described as wearing a high-vis shirt and driving a while dual-cab ute.

With AAP

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