Tensions boil over in renewed search for missing Gus
Tensions have flared in Outback SA, with the grandmother of missing boy Gus Lamont appearing to brandish a shotgun at a reporter who entered the private family property.
A fiery exchange between the grandmother of missing boy Gus Lamont and a reporter has been caught on camera.
The Daily Mail published images and footage of the alleged confrontation between Josie Murray and a reporter and photographer.
“Get out, you are trespassing,” Murray shouted in the video.
According to the Daily Mail, the pair arrived at the property on Thursday to “ask the family if they wanted to share their story”.
The reporter said she “offered her condolences to Gus’s other grandmother, who declined to comment, and was leaving the property when the weapon was pulled on her” by Murray, who “appeared from the far side of the house”, the report claimed.
SA Police later issued a statement saying the station was private property and media needed “express permission” to enter.
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“Unfortunately, we’ve had instances in the past 24 hours where media have disregarded our instructions and entered the property without the family’s permission, causing further distress to the family,” the statement read.
“This is deeply disappointing, especially given the family’s repeated and clear wishes to avoid media engagement.”
The altercation happened hours before SA Police announced a third search for the missing four-year-old would begin today.
As previously reported, SA Police will return to Oak Park Station in the state’s mid-north on Friday to resume a search for the missing four-year-old.
Police will drain a large dam about 600m from the homestead, which sits about 40km south of Yunta.
The 4.5m-deep dam was already searched by divers in the first days of the frantic search after Gus was reported missing on September 27.
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SA Police said authorities would return and drain the dam to rule out the possibility Gus had drowned.
August, affectionately known as Gus, was last seen playing outside the family’s homestead on Saturday, September 27 at approximately 5 pm.
Two previous search operations – which involved hundreds of people, including police officers, army personnel, trackers and local property owners – failed to turn up any evidence of the four-year-old.
The most recent ground search extended to 5.5km from the homestead, equal to about 95sqkm searched on foot, police said.
This was in addition to the original search area, which with the use of the mounted operations unit and PolAir had been estimated at 470sqkm.
“Police had been hopeful the extensive ground searches would locate Gus or provide evidence of the direction in which Gus may have walked, but this has not been the case,” police said in their statement.
“Task Force Horizon is conducting multiple lines of inquiry to locate Gus. These investigations have not uncovered any evidence of foul play.”
Police said on Thursday “the family of Gus have continued to cooperate fully with police and are being supported by a victim contact officer”.
Police have not uncovered any evidence of foul play in the disappearance.
