TheCable

At least four persons have been shot dead in Darwin, the capital of Australia’s northern territory, after a gunman went on a shooting rampage, police say.

The NT police, in a statement, said the suspected shooter — a 45-year-old caucasian man — had been arrested, adding that there were “currently four casualties, multiple injuries and multiple crime scenes.”

The gunman is said to have begun his shooting spree at the Palms motel on McMinn street on Tuesday.

Witnesses told ABC that the man walked into the motel and opened fire with a pump-action shotgun just before 6pm. He was said to be looking for someone called “Alex”.

“He shot up every room in that place,” one man was quoted to have said.

“He got what he wanted and then he left in his pick-up.

Another witness said a woman was shot multiple times in the legs before being taken away by an ambulance.

“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.”

Stephanie Zillman, ABC reporter, was also at the scene.

At least 4 dead in Darwin CBD shooting, multiple crime scenes across the city with one man arrested here. We are hearing he entered a motel with a pump action shotgun @abcnews @abcdarwin pic.twitter.com/6SMnyCusuy

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— Stephanie Zillman (@Steph_Zillman) June 4, 2019

Reports an active shooter in Darwin CBD with up to 20 shots fired and people injured … confusing scenes with tree on fire and roads blocked. pic.twitter.com/4WY2hVE2b3

— Stephanie Zillman (@Steph_Zillman) June 4, 2019

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“We witnessed ourselves… the alleged gunman being tackled to the ground by the tactical response group police and being tasered at the scene,” she said.

“Scenes like this certainly don’t happen in Darwin. It’s a sleepy tightknit community … so to see such dramatic scenes unfolding in Darwin CBD was truly extraordinary.”

There has been a rare occurrence of mass shooting in Australia since the country overhauled its gun laws in 1996, following a shooting in Tasmania that left 35 people dead.