Darwin shooting: Four killed in northern Australia

[jolldan]

At least four people were shot dead on Tuesday by a gunman in Darwin, northern Australia, police said.

Eyewitnesses said the gunman entered a motel in an inner suburb of the city and opened fire in a number of rooms before fleeing.

Police responded at about 18:00 local time (08:30 GMT) and arrested the man an hour later.

Police said they believed the man acted alone and they were not looking for any other suspects.

The city centre remained in lockdown for an hour after the gunman fled the scene of the shootings, in the suburb of Woolner.

There were several crime scenes, Australia's ABC News reported.
Northern Territory police duty superintendant Lee Morgan confirmed the fatalities, and said two more people had been injured.

Witness Leah Potter told ABC News that a woman was shot multiple times in the legs at the Palms Hotel.

"A man came running with a woman in his arms from next door which is the Palms Motel, which is the motel next to my motel, and he just dropped her on the footpath right in front of us," she said.

"I ran and got some towels and wrapped up her legs, she had little holes all in her skin on both her legs and she was bleeding everywhere."

Another witness, John Rose, told ABC that he saw the gunman walk into the motel with a sawn-off shotgun.

"He shot up all the rooms and he went to every room looking for somebody and he shot them all up, then we saw him rush out, jump into his Toyota pick-up, and rush off," Mr Rose said.

According to Australian news site news.com.au, police were treating the the Palms Motel as the main crime scene but had also cordoned off a social club less than a mile away.