A 59-year-old man has been charged with three counts of murder following the horrific mass shooting on remote Queensland farmland.
The accused, identified by Correu-Correu as long-term Bogie resident Darryl Young also faces a charge of attempted murder.
He will appear in Proserpine Magistrates’ Court on Monday.
Mervyn and Maree Schwarz and their son Graham Tighe were killed in Bogie on Thursday.
Ross Tighe, Graham’s brother, survived the shooting and is currently in hospital after being shot in the stomach.
Police allege the weapon used in the shooting was a rifle.
“It will be alleged that at around 9am, police received a report that three people had been shot dead at a property on Shannonvale Road and another man had suffered a gunshot wound to the abdomen,” the police said in a statement.
“The injured man remains at Mackay Base Hospital in a stable condition with a single gunshot wound to the stomach.”
“How it happened in our day and age is beyond me. It’s not America,” said Maree Schwarz’s brother-in-law Greg Austin The Daily Mail.
Mr Austen said he was completely shocked when he heard the news and described his loved ones as an “honest Christian family”.
“They were a bush family that worked seven days a week and brewed beers on Sundays, took part in events, very sociable and well respected in the community. Just a normal Aussie family,” he said.
Mr Austen told news.com.au he had learned of the shooting through the rest of his family.
“I have sisters and that there, or on their way there, and that’s what we were hearing from them. They were obviously talking to the police and we just got information from them when we could,” he said.
And in a tragic detail, Mr Austen revealed Graham Tighe had only spent three days with his newborn son before the shooting. The baby had just returned home after three weeks in hospital in Brisbane.
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How the situation developed
Emergency crews were called to a property in Bogie, a small mining town in the Whitsundays hinterland near Collinsville, at 8.54am on Thursday.
Three people were confirmed dead after police received reports that several people had been shot in the area.
After the sole survivor, Ross, was found in a vehicle in Flagstone, an emergency was declared at 11.30am under the Public Safety Preservation Act, with boundaries including Sutherland Rd, Normanby Rd, Mount Compton Rd and Starvation Creek.
This emergency declaration has since been revoked.
Police revealed that Ross managed to alert police to the shooting after escaping the scene and miraculously walking “many, many miles” while suffering from a gunshot wound.
“We believe the man was able to remove himself from the area when a police officer spoke to him many, many kilometers from the crime scene,” Queensland Police Acting Superintendent Tom Armitt said on Thursday.
“He was fleeing the scene … he was able to tell the police that he had been shot and three others were also shot.”
Police said he fled the scene in a red ute before contacting authorities.
Austen told the Daily Mail that her nephew showed incredible courage and described him as a “very strong man”.
“Ross has two girls, but he’s fine. I haven’t spoken to him yet because he’s about three hours away, but we’re on our way there,” he said.
“Witnessing what happened in front of him and then being able to walk back to his car shows real resilience, and I’m sure he won’t forget it for the rest of his life.”
He was taken to Mackay Hospital in a critical condition and underwent emergency surgery.
He is now in a serious but stable condition in the intensive care unit.
Police were able to interview him Thursday night and are expected to speak to him again today.
talking with Sunrise On Friday morning Acting Superintendent Armitt said police “believe” they have the suspected shooter in custody.
“The individual who has been designated for this offense is with us here in custody,” he said.
“At this time we have not filed any charges while our investigations are ongoing.”
Police spoke to five people Thursday night in connection with the shooting.
Two of the people police spoke to were wind farm contractors who happened to be near the property at the wrong time. They were released Thursday night.
Now two more people have also been released, relatives of the 59-year-old man who is still in custody.
The man, who is still in custody, was located by police at the property after the shooting.
“At the time we initially received the call we had no idea who or where the perpetrator of the shooting was and obviously had to proceed to the scene with a great deal of consideration for our own safety and at the risk that the police officers were shot.” Acting Superintendent Armitt told reporters on Friday.
“We were able to contact the people on the property and arrange for their arrest.”
$10 million property and neighborhood dispute in the spotlight
An alleged neighborhood dispute is forming a major part of the investigations, with Acting Superintendent Armitt revealing that the parties involved in the incident were neighbours.
Mr and Mrs Schwarz, along with Graham, had only bought the 300 square kilometer property in May 2021, according to the daily mail.
They paid $10 million for the land, which is zoned for cattle grazing, ranching and agriculture.
Acting Superintendent Armitt also appeared on Nine’s Today Show on Friday, offering more details about the alleged neighborhood dispute.
“There aren’t too many details that I can tell you right now. What we do know is that the parties involved are neighbors and there was a conversation between the parties that led to a meeting of the parties at the boundary line early yesterday morning when the incident occurred,” he said.
Later Friday, the acting superintendent offered more information about the layout of properties in the area, revealing that the scene of the shooting was an hour and a half away from Collinsville in a very remote area.
“We’re talking about properties the size of tens of thousands of hectares and between the two properties in question it’s actually a 45-minute drive between neighbors,” he explained.
“At the crime scene, which is at the front door of one of the pledges, there is a 3km route between the door and the house at this location.”
Whitsunday Regional Council’s Mike Brunker said Sunrise the family moved to the area from the west, describing the situation as “absolutely tragic”.
“The road that leads to this particular property, there are some small boutique rural residential areas and then of course at the end of the road are the cattle properties that we’re talking about,” he said.
“I think these people had only moved here 12 months ago from the west.”
‘It’s shocking’: A city rocked by a terror shooting
Brunker said a tragic event like this is the last thing the Bogie community would ever think would make national news.
According to the latest census data, Bogie has a population of just 207 people, making it an extremely close-knit community.
Locals in nearby Bowen and Collinsville described the incident as “unusual” and “strange” for the normally quiet area.
“There haven’t been many shootings there (Bogie) before … it’s very unusual,” said a business owner in Collinsville.
Bowen resident Shontai McLennan told her daily wednesday that the situation was a complete shock to many.
“We’re the traditional owners of this land around Collinsville. I wouldn’t have thought it could happen here. It’s a small town,” he said.
Redcliffe man Warren Davidson told the publication he had seen several emergency vehicles racing down the road as he drove to Bowen from Ingham.
“Then we heard on the CB radio that there had been a shooting. It’s pretty shocking,” he said.
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