{"id":431892,"date":"2026-01-23T09:29:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T09:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/431892\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T09:29:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T09:29:11","slug":"lake-cargelligo-residents-in-shock-after-three-people-shot-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/431892\/","title":{"rendered":"Lake Cargelligo residents in shock after three people shot dead"},"content":{"rendered":"

Residents in a tiny New South Wales town are reeling after three people were shot dead with the suspected gunman still at large.<\/p>\n

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains the names of Indigenous people who have died, used with the permission of family.<\/p>\n

Police are continuing to search for Julian Ingram, 37, the main suspect in the fatal shooting of a 32-year-old man and two women aged 25 and 50 in Lake Cargelligo on Thursday.<\/p>\n

A 19-year-old man, who was also shot, remains in hospital in a serious but stable condition.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A neighbour, who asked not to be named, told the ABC he heard gunshots before the man and the younger woman were found dead in a vehicle on Bokhara Street.<\/p>\n

“It was maybe five pops, four pops…it sounded like a bucket had fallen off on my front verandah,” the neighbour said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“So I came out to check for that, and sure enough, within a few seconds of that, I heard someone screaming ‘somebody call an ambulance’.<\/p>\n

“I just figured that somebody had just had a couple too many to drink, or maybe they had like a heart problem while driving and crashed and that’s when like 40 people, cars everywhere emerged.”\"A<\/p>\n

A Lake Cargelligo resident who lives close to one of the shootings was shocked that a shooting like this could happen in the small town.\u00a0 (ABC Central West : Hamish Cole)<\/p>\n

The neighbour said he was shocked by the deadly shootings.<\/p>\n

“Didn’t really know what to think,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It’s a quiet town, little Lake Cargelligo, nothing really happens here.”<\/p>\n

The neighbour confirmed he knew the victims in the car.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“You know everyone in Lake Cargelligo, you can’t not.”<\/p>\n

Two of the victims have been identified as 25-year-old Sophie Quinn and her aunt 50-year-old Nerida Quinn.<\/p>\n

A family member said of Sophie: “She loved her friends, loved her nephews, she loved being outdoors she loved her dogs. She loved fishing.”<\/p>\n

Nerida Quinn was described by the family member as someone who was “selfless”.<\/p>\n

“She was always there for everybody’s kids \u2026 She loved her family.”<\/p>\n

‘I just kind of froze’<\/p>\n

Another neighbour, who also asked for her name to be withheld, told the ABC she did not suspect it was gunshots at first.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We were just at home sitting in the living room and I heard four gunshots,” she said.<\/p>\n

“It was extremely loud looking back at it, it was obviously \u00a0a gunshot, we just didn’t think that it would be that.<\/p>\n

“In the moment, I didn’t do anything. I stayed inside and then, eventually, I just started hearing cars and people and sirens, and then I came outside to see what was going on.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A Lake Cargelligo resident who lives close to one of the shootings said she saw the aftermath of the shooting after hearing four loud shots.\u00a0 (ABC Central West: Hamish Cole\u00a0)<\/p>\n

She said as she was walking down the street she saw CPR being performed on one of the victims.<\/p>\n

“I just kind of froze and didn’t really know what to do, and then one of my neighbours saw me and came up to me and told me what happened, and then I said ‘I’m so sorry’ and hugged her,” she said.\"Cars<\/p>\n

Yellow police markers at the Walker Street crime scene. (ABC News: Hamish Cole)<\/p>\n

Tragedy for ‘tight-knit’ community<\/p>\n

Lachlan Shire Council Mayor John Medcalf said it was a tragedy for the community of just 1,500 people.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It’s a tight-knit community,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It’s going to affect this town for quite a long time.<\/p>\n

“If they have got any information for god’s sake, ring Triple Zero (000) and try and help the police out.”\"A<\/p>\n

Police are searching for Julian Ingram after three people were shot dead in Lake Cargelligo. (Supplied: NSW Police)<\/p>\n

Cr Medcalf said as soon as police had finished their investigation and the search for the gunman, mental health services for the community would be a focus.<\/p>\n

Search continues for suspected gunman<\/p>\n

Assistant Commissioner of the Western Region Command, Andrew Holland, confirmed Mr Ingram did not have a NSW firearms licence.<\/p>\n

He said determining how Mr Ingram accessed firearms would form part of the investigation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Store<\/p>\n

Shops in Lake Cargelligo are shut today as the search for Mr Ingram continues. (ABC News: Hamish Cole)<\/p>\n

Assistant Commissioner Holland also confirmed the council vehicle he was driving was not fitted with GPS tracking.<\/p>\n

He did also not rule out Mr Ingram having access to other vehicles.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said the search area was fluid and would not disclose any particular areas being searched.<\/p>\n

“Those locations which are known for him to frequent. Obviously as more information comes in we will move our searches in that locations,” Assistant Commissioner Holland said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Portrait<\/p>\n

Kaleb MacQueen, 19, is in hospital with serious injuries after the shooting at Lake Cargelligo. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

The 19-year-old seriously injured in the shooting, Kaleb MacQueen, was initially taken to hospital in a serious but stable condition.<\/p>\n

Detectives from Queanbeyan Police have spoken with Mr MacQueen, Assistant Commissioner Holland said.<\/p>\n

The ABC has confirmed the suspected gunman is a council gardener who works as a weeds officer.<\/p>\n

He is described as 165cm-170cm tall, of medium build, with short dark hair and brown eyes.<\/p>\n

\"Police<\/p>\n

Almost 100 police officers are on the ground in the lake Cargelligo area searching for the suspected gunman. (ABC News: Hamish Cole)<\/p>\n

He was last seen driving a Ford Ranger utility with NSW registration DM-07-GZ, featuring council signage, a metal tray back, high-visibility markings on the sides, and an emergency-light bar on the roof.<\/p>\n

Residents have been urged to bring forward any relevant mobile phone, dashcam or CCTV footage, photos, screenshots or other material that may help police with the search and investigation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Residents in a tiny New South Wales town are reeling after three people were shot dead with the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":431893,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,226036,225577,48,226035,225576,226037,225125,44,1158,225575],"class_list":["post-431892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cargelligo","tag-central-west-shooting","tag-crime","tag-euabalong","tag-gunman-on-loose","tag-lachlan-shire-council","tag-lake-cargelligo","tag-news","tag-police","tag-three-shot-dead"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431892\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/431893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}