Three Dead After Shooting in Rural Australian Town

The killings happened on a day when Australians were honoring the victims of the Bondi Beach massacre, and just after gun laws were tightened.

A black, red and yellow flag and a blue flag with a Union Jack and white stars fly at half-staff over a steel bridge. The Australian and Aboriginal flags at half-staff for the victims of the Bondi Beach shooting in Sydney on Thursday.Credit…Rick Rycroft/Associated Press

Reporting from Sydney, Australia

Three people were shot dead in a rural Australian town on Thursday, the police said, days after the country passed stricter gun laws in the wake of a mass shooting last month.

Emergency services were called to Lake Cargelligo in New South Wales, more than 300 miles west of Sydney, at 4:40 p.m. after reports that shots had been fired into a vehicle.

A woman and a man were found dead in a car, said the New South Wales police assistant commissioner for the region, Andrew Holland.

Shortly afterward, he said, the police were called to a second crime scene and found two more people with gunshot wounds, a woman who died and a man who was taken to a hospital in serious condition.

“In total, three people have died — two females and one male,” Mr. Holland said.

The assailant was still at large, according to the authorities, who urged people to stay indoors.

“Any death in a small country town is confronting, but again, a scene where you have people shot by firearms is obviously going to make people very, very tense and very, very concerned,” Mr. Holland said.

He said it was too early in the investigation to speculate on the relationship between the attacker and the people who were shot.

Australia is still reeling from a mass shooting last month, in which two gunmen targeted a Jewish community celebration, killing 15 people and wounding dozens of others.

On Thursday, the country observed a national day of mourning to commemorate those who died in the massacre at Bondi Beach in Sydney, which the authorities have deemed a terrorist attack.

Gun violence is rare in Australia. The country introduced strict gun control measures almost 30 years ago, after a gunman opened fire on a small Tasmanian town and killed 35 people.

Since then, the country has been a model for gun control in the eyes of many.

This week, Australia passed new laws to strengthen gun restrictions through a national gun buyback, import limits on firearms and tightened background checks. It is a bid to crack down on the more than four million firearms in Australia, a record high, according to the authorities.