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SYDNEY, Australia - A 69-year-old Australian man was charged with hacking his two grandchildren and wife to death with an ax and badly wounding his daughter, police said Tuesday.

John Walsh was charged with three counts of murder and one of attempted murder in connection to the attack Monday in Cowra, 155 miles west of Sydney, a police statement said. He faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.

He was arrested without incident about six hours after paramedics were called to the house where the bodies were found, the police statement said. The suspect was at a motel in the town of Hay, about 260 miles west of Cowra.

Officials did not say if Walsh had a lawyer.

Walsh did not enter a plea and was ordered held in custody after a brief court appearance Tuesday.

Cowra Mayor Bruce Miller said the children were aged 7 and 5. Their mother, Shelley Walsh, 31, was a police officer who worked in a nearby town.

Walsh was attacked as she returned to the house and was able to flee to neighbor Terry Lovett's home, bleeding from a deep gash on the side of her head, Lovett told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

Walsh was later flown to a Sydney hospital in serious condition, the police statement said.

Lovett said the elderly man and his wife often looked after the children while their mother went to work in a nearby town.

Investigators said they were looking for a motive.

"We're all at a bit of a loss. We will get to the bottom of it," said New South Wales state police Commissioner Andrew Scipione.




Oh my God.  There are some things in this world that I just cannot understand why someone would do.  This is one of those.  Wtf??