Warning: This story contains the names and images of Indigenous people who have died.
The state’s top cop has warned Central West locals against assisting an alleged triple murderer who continues to evade police as authorities scour water sources and abandoned mine shafts in the remote region.
Julian Ingram has now been on the run for a week after allegedly murdering his heavily pregnant former partner Sophie Quinn, 24, along with John Harris, 32, and Quinn’s aunt Nerida, 50, in Lake Cargelligo on the afternoon of January 22.
Kaleb Macqueen, 19, was also injured during the shooting rampage.
NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon warned locals against assisting the 37-year-old, also known as Julian Pierpoint, as he continues to dodge the massive manhunt.
“What he has [allegedly] committed here is an atrocity … something that is completely unacceptable,” Lanyon said after travelling to the region on Thursday.
“For those that are thinking of assisting him, think again … you will be charged if we have evidence of that.
“We are committed to putting Mr Ingram before the court.”
Multiple potential sightings of Ingram have been reported in the past week, prompting wide-scale searches as temperatures regularly passed 40 degrees.
Officers swarmed Mount Hope, north-west of Lake Cargelligo, in the days following the shooting following reported sightings from witnesses.
“From what they tell us at this point, we believe it may have been him, but again this is yet to be confirmed officially,” Assistant Commissioner Andrew Holland said on Thursday.
Police have spent days searching properties stretching across tens of thousands of hectares in a landscape featuring disused mine shafts in which Ingram could be hiding.
Ingram has been described as an experienced bushman, who may have knowledge of the area through his work as a council gardener.
“He is aware where the water sources are, he’s aware where the hidey holes are, such as caves,” Holland said.
“We have to systematically work through these locations.”
Police released additional images on Tuesday of the Lachlan Shire Council ute Ingram was travelling in on the afternoon of the shootings, but Holland said on Thursday Ingram “would be mad” if he was still using the same vehicle.
Police are investigating the rider of a red motorcycle who reportedly failed to stop for police on Wednesday.
“But again, that is unconfirmed,” Holland said.
The search on Wednesday spread to Kiacatoo, north-east of Lake Cargelligo, and about 90 kilometres from Mount Hope.
Local farmer Dean Phillips told Nine News he and his family were not sticking around in Kiacatoo as police searched for Ingram on Wednesday.
“We don’t want to be here, we’re too worried to stay here,” he said.
“It is very difficult, you know, to find anyone out here, especially on these remote roads, it is very hard,” Phillips said.
Lachlan Shire Council Mayor John Medcalf said locals are staying in their homes.
“Everybody’s on edge while the suspect is still at large,” he told AAP.
Daily reporting to police was one of Ingram’s bail conditions.
An interim Apprehended Domestic Violence Order also prohibited Ingram from approaching Quinn in the weeks before he allegedly shot her and Harris as they sat in Quinn’s black Suzuki Swift on Bokhara Street.
“We’re looking at the bail conditions, but that will form part of the investigation,” Holland said.
Lanyon described domestic and family violence as a continuing “scourge” on the community.
“In the last year, we charged over 33,000 individuals with domestic and family violence assaults, which is a disgrace,” Lanyon said.
It also required 33,000 individual bail decisions to be made by police sergeants and courts applying the state’s bail act, which police will “work closely with government” on in the aftermath of the triple shooting.
“The decision on legislation is one with government. We’re committed as a police force to providing support to victims,” Lanyon said.
Premier Chris Minns and government ministers have resisted commenting on the bail decision or whether legislative change is required while the search is ongoing.
Jack Gramenz is a breaking news reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.
