A MUM and her four children were among the seven people found dead early on Friday on a rural property south of Perth.

Katrina Miles’ body was found alongside those of her three sons and one daughter, who she homeschooled, early on Friday morning.

Police have described the incident, at a rural property in Osmington, 20km northeast of Margaret River, as an “horrific tragedy” and are treating it as a murder-suicide.

Two adults were found outside near a building, while five were discovered inside. All the victims appeared to have gunshot wounds, said Police.

The incident is the worst mass shooting since the Port Arthur Massacre of 1996.

Only a month ago, Ms Miles claimed on her Facebook page that: “My ex does not stop stalking me” according to The Australian.

News.com.au has seen a social media post from someone who knew the family which said: “Lovely people, but crazy ex-husband”.

In a Facebook post on her own page, Ms Miles described herself as the “parent of four beautiful children”. It’s understood all four kids had autism.

The Osmington property is also home to Ms Miles’ parents, Cynda and Peter. AAP said two grandparents are among seven people found dead at the property.

The elder Ms Miles had a craft business called Soft Salvage where she made soft goods from recycled materials. Mr Miles was a farm maintenance worker. He was seemingly well thought of in the community with a post on a farmer’s social media page praising his work. “I can highly recommend this guy to get all your farm/small property work done! Peter is THE man for any farm job”.

Police have yet to publicly identify the victims.

In a press conference this afternoon, Western Australia Police Commissioner Chris Dawson said police were called to the property at 5.15am Friday to find seven bodies. Two firearms were discovered at the property

Mr Dawson described the discovery as “devastating”.

The deaths are being investigated as a murder-suicide, according to the ABC. Mr Dawson told reporters in Perth he was unable to confirm this but said some of the bodies had gunshot wounds.

The Premier of Western Australia, Mark McGowan has tweeted about the incident, saying the events were “tragic and shocking”.

Neighbour Richard Dosser told the ABC he had spoken to someone who lived in the house who worked as a farm maintenance worker.

“I was talking to him on the phone last night, I was going to ask him to come over tomorrow,” he said.

“He seemed very vague.”

A local resident who did not want to be named said he understood the property belonged to the grandparents.

“They are a hugely respected family and a great asset to the community,” he told AAP.

“It’s just absolutely really shocking.

“I can’t imagine just how disturbed someone is how they could do that.”

Felicity, a neighbour, told Sydney radio station 2GB’s Ben Fordham that somebody on her property heard gunshots early this morning and “thought it was just people out roo shooting”.

The woman said the property contained two houses, one relatively new, for the occupants to live in.

“I loved them dearly,” said Felicity.

The Shire President of Augusta-Margaret River, Pam Townsend, told 2GB what had happened was surreal.

“It’s surreal that this is happening here in our beautiful little community.

“When we hear of violence like this, it is just shocking. We really need to talk about violence, don’t we, in our society.

“This is going to have an enormous effect on young people in the community.”

Osmington is mostly rural, made up of vineyards and farmland properties.

The police commissioner said homicide detectives were helping local police with the investigation, supported by specialist units and a chaplain.

“This devastating tragedy will no doubt have a lasting impact on the families concerned, the whole community and, in particular, the local communities in our southwest,” Mr Dawson said.

Mr Dawson said it was “not appropriate” to speculate on further details, but assured the community there were no “wider public safety issues”.

The commissioner said the incident had taken its toll on first responders.

“This is an horrific tragedy for any person involved and, clearly, officers and other first responders attending these sort of scenes, they find it tragic. We will get on with our job but, regrettably, these tragedies do take their toll on everyone,” he said.

In a statement, West Australian Police said officers were expected to remain at the home for “an extended period of time”.

Police rushed to the rural property just after 5am after receiving an emergency call.

The commissioner confirmed the person who made the call had a connection to the property but would not confirm the nature of the link.

He was also unable to confirm the ages of the children as police were still notifying family members.

Mr Dawson also urged anyone with any information about the tragedy to contact police.

“There’s a priority to these investigations so we’ll immediately concentrate on the

actual scene itself and, as matters are further investigated, naturally, we would be asking for anyone that does know anything about this matter to contact police,” he said.

Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.

Anyone with information regarding this incident, or who saw or heard anything suspicious in the Osmington area this morning, is asked to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000