Wayne Smith and 15-year-old Noah have been identified as the father and son found dead in a home in northern NSW on Thursday afternoon in what police suspect was a murder-suicide.
Police were called to the home on Kookaburra Court, Yamba, about 1.10pm after reports their bodies had been found. Smith, 58, and Noah, had suffered gunshot wounds.
Wayne Smith with his son Noah in a photo uploaded to social media in 2017.Credit: Facebook
Initial inquiries indicate Smith was a licensed firearms holder, and detectives have requested his licensing history from the NSW Firearms Registry.
“It’s an absolute tragic situation,” Superintendent Shane Cribb from the Coffs Clarence police district said on Friday.
Noah Smith who was found dead in a Yamba home on Thursday.Credit: Facebook
“The main thing is to wrap as much support around everyone as we can.”
Cribb said a close family relative made the phone call to the police and there had been nothing to suspect Noah was unsafe.
“I’ve had some of my officers speak to the family this morning … we’ve looked after them,” he said.
A report will be prepared for the coroner.
Noah was known for his love of rugby and was a member of the Yamba Buccaneers Rugby Club.
“The Yamba Buccaneers Rugby Club is devastated by the tragic passing of Noah and our condolences are with his family, friends and former teammates at this difficult time,” club president Adrian Miller said.
“Noah found his sporting place in rugby union and was a valuable member of our 2019 premiership winning under-12s team.
“Reserved, quiet child, Noah was well respected by other players and his coaches and was renowned for always having a crack and doing what he could for the team.”
Miller said support had been offered to those affected and tributes would be given at junior games on Friday and senior games on Saturday.
Cribb said a tragedy such as this often hit small communities harder as police continued to provide support.
“We always find in the smaller communities it has more effect because everyone knows everyone,” he said.
“I’ve actually got my own police that know the family. I’ve got police officers’ children that went to the same school.”
The family have been cared for by police and Cribb said some of his officers had been speaking to them earlier on Friday.
“We’ve looked after them, we’ve got as much welfare as we can. We’ve got police chaplains up there, we’ve had our expert welfare people there,” Cribb said.
Neighbours said Smith worked for the Port of Yamba as an officer and Noah lived with him at the Kookaburra Court home.
The family were well known in the Yamba community and one neighbour said she was shocked by the news.
The neighbour, who asked not to be named, also said the father and son did motocross together and she often saw them on the street.
“It’s just a horrible situation,” she said.
Another neighbour confirmed Smith worked as a port services officer which involved piloting vessels at sea.
Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732). Crisis support is available from Lifeline on 13 11 14 and Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636.
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