Lake Cargelligo: For Bev Quinn’s children and grandchildren, her Lake Cargelligo home is a place of love. At the house – “Granny’s” – the Quinn family gather, laugh and care for one another; the home is a place of safety.

But the cherished place has become a house of grief. Inside, a family torn apart tries to make sense of an unfathomable tragedy. Bev Quinn has lost a daughter and a granddaughter; Cathy Quinn has lost a daughter and a sister; Mikaila Elms has lost a mother and a cousin. All have lost a friend.

The three dead, from left: Sophie Quinn, 24, Nerida Quinn, and friend, John Harris, 32,
Days after Sophie Quinn, 24, her aunt, Nerida Quinn, 50, her friend, John Harris, 32, were shot dead and 19-year-old of Kaleb Macqueen was seriously injured, the shockwaves still reverberate through Lake Cargelligo, a town of about 1200 in the NSW Central West.

Just before 4.30pm on Thursday, Julian Ingram, 37, allegedly gunned down Sophie Quinn, his former partner, and her friend, Harris, as the pair drove along Bokhara Street towards the freshwater lake with which the town shares its name.

Two shotgun rounds appeared to have been fired through the windscreen at Sophie Quinn, who was driving, while several shots shattered the rear windscreen of the 24-year-old’s black Suzuki Swift.

Julian Ingram, 37, was last seen leaving Lake Cargelligo in a Lachlan Shire Council ute on Thursday afternoon.NSW Police
Within minutes, police allege, Ingram, a gardener for the Lachlan Shire Council, drove to Nerida Quinn’s Walker Street home, seven streets west of where Sophie Quinn and Harris were killed, and opened fire on the 50-year-old, killing her. Macqueen, whose grandmother lives nearby, was shot and seriously injured.

Soon after, Ingram was seen leaving Lake Cargelligo in his Lachlan Shire Council ute, sparking a manhunt involving about 100 officers, including officers from the local and neighbouring districts and NSW Police’s specially trained Tactical Operations Unit.

Day by day since Thursday, police have widened their search area, focusing on locations Ingram is known to frequent with no success; a search on Friday at Murrin Bridge, an Indigenous community about 15 kilometres north of Lake Cargelligo where Ingram had visited friends, turned up nothing. Residents there said Ingram was well-liked.

The home where Nerida Quinn was killed and Kaleb Macqueen was seriously injured in Thursday’s shooting.Kate Geraghty

Kaleb Macqueen, 19, was seriously injured in Thursday’s shooting.
Overnight Friday, police searched two properties near Euabalong, a town of about 80 people where Ingram was raised and lived until about a decade ago, according to locals who spent time with him. The last time several remembered seeing Ingram in town was late last year, around the time his mother died.

Locals say Ingram, also known as Julian Pierpoint, is an experienced bushman capable of surviving long stretches in remote area with limited resources. The 37-year-old worked as a brush cutter and travelled remote roads before working for the local council, which covers an area of almost 15,000 square kilometres. Authorities pursuing Ingram in the 40 degree-plus heat face an uphill battle to find and apprehend him, those familiar with his bushcraft say.

As the search for Ingram becomes more desperate, police are turning to his associates, some of whom they believe could be helping the alleged murderer stay ahead of authorities.

“Mr Ingram has worked in the area for a long time. He was known to a lot of people in the area,” NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Andy Holland said on Saturday.

“He could be accessing people, and we’re obviously making contact with known associates, trying to cut down those possibilities … there is the possibility that people are assisting him.”

Ingram, who has never held a NSW gun licence, is believed to be armed and considered dangerous, Holland said, warning anyone who sees the 37-year-old not to approach him.

9:48

Lake Cargelligo update

Police gave an update on the search for a man following the fatal shooting of three people in the state’s Central West.

“This [alleged] offender, we can’t tell what his actions are going to be in the future, what he’s going to do next,” Holland said.

It is unclear how Ingram obtained the firearm allegedly used in the shooting, or who it belongs to. Locals who know Ingram say he was familiar with firearms and had used them before despite not holding a license.

Police are also working to locate Ingram’s council ute, a Ford Ranger with registration DM-07-GZ, council signage, a metal tray back, high visibility markings on the side and an emergency light bar on the roof. It is possible Ingram has dumped the ute, one of few council vehicles without GPS tracking, and switched vehicles since Thursday afternoon, Holland said.

The Lake Cargelligo killings have renewed debate about NSW’s bail laws, and what protection is given to domestic violence victims. On November 30 – less than two months before Ingram allegedly killed Sophie Quinn – local police released him on bail after he allegedly assaulted the 24-year-old around the time the pair separated.

The streets of Lake Cargelligo were deserted on Friday as police searched for Julian Ingram.Kate Geraghty

Tributes on Bokhara Street mark the place Sophie Quinn and John Harris were killed.Kate Geraghty
Three days later, an interim apprehended domestic violence order was put in place to protect the 24-year-old. Holland said Ingram had complied with the order and his bail conditions, which required him to report to Lake Cargelligo police station daily. Ingram reported to police at 8.12am on Thursday, Holland said. The bail conditions did not require him to be electronically monitored.

While Sophie Quinn’s family has not criticised the efforts of local police to keep her safe, they told this masthead she had been let down by a justice system they feel has continuously failed vulnerable women and questioned why Ingram was granted bail despite the serious charges against him. Ingram has pleaded not guilty to the domestic violence charges – one count each of stalking or intimidating intending to cause fear or physical harm and common assault.

As Sophie Quinn’s loved ones mourn her, they also grieve a life that was taken before it started. Sophie was due to give birth to a son on March 19, her family said. The boy was to be named Troy after Sophie’s father, who died when she was two years old, her mother, Cathy Quinn, told this masthead.

There aren’t words to do justice to her beloved daughter, Cathy Quinn says. To those who knew her, she was gentle, loving and caring; she was a passionate pig hunter, loved fishing and adored her dogs.

“She was beautiful like a black swan,” she said.

“[She was] just a fun girl to be around.”

By Saturday, Bokhara Street and Walker Street had been opened, the police tape marking the crime scenes pulled down and done away with, and a growing pile of flowers laid to mark the place Sophie Quinn and Harris spent their last moments alive.

Shops along the town’s main street reopened, boats had returned to the lake, and locals poured into the Commercial Hotel to drink, play pool and reclaim a sense of normality.

Nearby, at Bev Quinn’s home, detectives come and go, phones ring constantly, no one sleeps, and normal feels a world away.