A man who killed his partner on Anzac Day chased her and their children to a neighbour's house before killing her and himself with a high-powered rifle, police have revealed.
Greg Floyd, 43, was seen carrying the rifle as he chased his partner, Ora Holt, and their four children, aged between 10 and four years old, from their home in Belle Avenue, Wangaratta about 12.50pm.
Homicide squad Detective Sergeant Paul Tremain said the family sought refuge in the next-door neighbour's home – occupied by another young family.
The neighbours fled to safety with Ms Holt's four children, and their own two, before the armed man smashed his way inside and found her in the bedroom.
The couple were found dead inside the house about 5.10pm on Tuesday, more than four hours after shots were fired.
"There's the children involved and to have it happen at a neighbour's home, he's got kids himself, it's just devastating," Detective Sergeant Tremain said.
The Wangaratta community is struggling to come to terms with the third horrific killing of a local female in 18 months, following the deaths of 11-year-old Zoe Buttigieg in October 2015 and Whorouly's Karen Chetcuti in January 2016.
Ms Holt was a respected member of the Wangaratta West Primary School community, who helped make breakfast for pupils once a week to ensure they had a healthy start to the day.
"A special thanks to Ora Holt and Kristie Meggs who have been there every Tuesday, rain hail or shine," the school wrote in a newsletter.
Wangaratta Mayor Ken Clarke was with emergency services and schoolchildren for Anzac Day services on Tuesday morning before he heard the news.
"I was pretty devastated for the whole city," Cr Clarke said.
"We can do without it, especially on the most important day for the city every year – Anzac Day."
Police had initially thought there was a siege at the property, but Detective Sergeant Tremain said it was never a hostage situation.
"It was a domestic dispute... he's killed her and then he's killed himself," he said.
"As a precaution measure, we treat it as a siege because we can't contact them … the deaths of the deceased male and female occurred in the first few moments."
A local who knew the couple said Mr Floyd was quiet, shy and enjoyed time with friends while Ora was gentle, kind and well-liked. He said they had had relationship problems, but doted on their children.
"To say this was out of character for him is an understatement," he said. He said Mr Floyd was a keen hunter.
Wangaratta's Stephanie Purchase has started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for the orphaned children, helping with costs of their parents' funerals or school.
"It's never going to fill the hole that will fill the children's lives but maybe we can lift some of the stress from grieving family members," she said.
"As a close community, this is our way of banding together and helping those in need. I am so deeply saddened by this, this is the only way I felt I could help."
Wangaratta Council has offered counselling to schools and its own employees who knew the family.
"Because we're a smaller city, so many people know so many," Cr Clarke said.
"Even within the rural city staff, we've got quite a lot who knew the family and they just don't understand what happened."
Border Mail