Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan has expressed his shock at the tragic killing of two children in Huntingdale on Friday.
Police have called the event a double murder-suicide.
“Firstly … I think on behalf of all West Australians, I pass on our thoughts to the family of the children,” he said.“It’s an absolutely shocking situation. And I think we all feel deeply shocked by what has occurred.”
He also sent a message of support to the first responders, the school friends and colleagues of the family.“It’s just a terrible, terrible situation,” he said.
Indika Gunathilaka, and his son Kohan, 6, and daughter Lily, 4, were discovered lifeless inside their home by another family member around 6.30pm on Friday.
The children were reportedly found in their beds.
Assistant Police Commissioner Allan Adams said the 40-year-old father was found dead in the garage of his home, with the two children inside, after their mother alerted a family member to her children being missing from a predetermined pickup location.
The family member discovered the traumatic scene at the Essington Street house, with first responders also being extremely shaken ahead of the mother arriving.“I’m probably not going to go into the family circumstances based on the grief and trauma that’s being experienced at the moment by a subset of that family and that’s just going to exacerbate that,” Mr Adams said on Saturday.
“Having been a police officer myself for over 35 years dealing with these issues, even though police are subjected to trauma on a regular basis and the response to it, nothing prepares you for this.”
He said the circumstances would be thoroughly investigated “but we are treating this incident as a double murder-suicide”.
Mr Gunathilaka, who was a town planner, had only six weeks ago posted a video to social media about his recent struggles with mental illness.
“It’s been a while since I posted anything on Facebook … I’ve had my personal reasons for it. To those who felt a difference and reached out, I thank them, a lot of those calls and messages have gone unanswered and I do apologise but the care and concern shown is appreciated,” he said.
“People who have known me well enough for long enough, I would feel quite certain they may not think of me as someone going through depression or being depressed … but I have recently been diagnosed with depression.
“I’m on medication which is helping, I would think, because the unpleasant signs of mental health issues or even depression is not only does it affect you, it affects the people around you.
“Suiciding is possibly not the solution … reach out to people, try and talk to people, seek help, see what you can do before you make that drastic decision where if you are successful there is no coming back.”
Mr Gunathilaka was a founding member of the Royal College Old Boys Association of Western Australia, which brings together graduates from a prestigious Sri Lankan high school who are now living in Perth.A friend of Mr Gunathilaka wrote of Facebook: “I’m sorry Indika Gunathilaka for not being able to save you.”
Neighbours on Essington Street were shocked by the news, describing the area as quiet and the family as one who usually kept to themselves.
One of the neighbours, Maammad Zaki Hussainy, told Nine News Perth that, as a dad himself, it had been hard to hear about what had happened.
Another neighbour, Danny Green, said he had been watching the cricket when he heard the police sirens.
“It is shocking… absolutely horrific. I think it will (hit the community), it is pretty heavy for sure,” he told Nine News Perth.“It is always quiet you don’t hear anything, you wouldn’t expect anything out of that house, absolutely not.”
Police have appealed to the community to come forward if they have any information and have offered counselling to the family and first responders, who were badly shaken by the scene. (Sydney Morning Herald)