Three shot in Hamilton

Press, 21 December 1976, Page 6

Three shot in Hamilton

PA Hamilton| An eight-year-old Huntly boy and his 18-year-old sister were found shot in their bedroom early yesterday — only about an hour before an 18-year-old youth and his three-month-old baby were found lying dead in another part of the town. ’The bedroom shooting left tlie boy dead, but his sister, who was the mother of the baby, suffered only minor pellet wounds. The baby had not been shot, but a shotgun was found lying beside the father’s body.

The father and the baby were found dead on the youth’s mother’s doorstep. The baby is thought to have died of exposure.

Those dead are Roderick James Hohapata, aged 8; Delane Hohapata, aged three

months, and [Tom King! Wilson, aged 18. ■ The injured girl is Sheryl Hohapata, aged 19. The officer in charge of the inquiry, Detective Inspector Phil Berryman, said that the police were not looking for anyone in connection with the killings.

The first shooting, which killed the boy, took place at 4.05 a.m.

Mr Berryman said the first shot wounded the girl and the second one killed the boy. Both were fired at close range, through the bedroom window.

_ The second shooting took place at 5.10 a.m. The police went to the youth’s home after receiving a call from his mother.

Mr Berryman said that at 12.15 a.m. the baby was taken by Wilson from the house where the mother lived with her parents and family, s