Police were called in early on Friday morning to a rural property in Margaret River. Upon their arrival, they discovered seven people dead at the scene: three adults and four children, according to a statement by Western Australia's Commissioner of Police Chris Dawson. Firearms were discovered at the scene, and the bodies appeared to have gunshot wounds. Special units, including homicide investigators and a forensics unit, were dispatched from Perth.

Police are expected to remain at the scene for some time, but they say the area is not dangerous for the general public.

Shootings on such a scale are rare in Australia, where tough gun legislation effectively bans civilians from possessing many types of firearms. All legal guns must be registered to their owners by serial numbers, and possessing one requires a license, which, in turn, requires a legitimate reason. Self-defense is not considered reason enough to get a gun license.

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