Neighbours are shocked after three people were found dead at a home in Timaru on Thursday night, prompting a homicide investigation.
Emergency services were called to the Queen St property just after 10pm, and on arrival they found three dead bodies. One other person was hospitalised.
"Police are speaking with people from the address and no one else is being sought at this time," police said on Friday morning.
Speaking to Newshub, neighbours say they were watching television on Thursday night when "we heard sort of a noise like a deep moan".
Jade and Rob Whaley say they went outside to investigate, but couldn't see anything of interest. They went back inside and about five minutes later heard "a loud bang", prompting them to go back out.
"We couldn't see the spotlight had come on so we knew someone wasn't on the property," Rob says. "It sorta sounds liked a car door being slammed or a car being kicked. We couldn't hear anything so we went back inside again."
But while they were inside, Jade said they heard more moaning "going on and on".
"We were out looking, trying to think 'what is going on here'," she said.
Rob believes the moaning was from the alleged offender.
"They were moaning and making lots of noise like 'what have I done', and walking around the back of the house. The neighbour over the back yelled out 'hey, what is going on? Are you alright mate?'. In that time, no violence was taking place as the guy was trying to console the fella who was making all the noise."
"Ten cop cars and everything turned up. Pretty much from that point, it was, what I would say, all on, to the point that something is happening next door."
Jade says they later saw someone escorted into an ambulance and another person handcuffed and taken away in a police car.
The pair say the properties are down the road from the hospital and are generally fairly quiet.
Currently, Jade says, the properties are cordoned off.
"There are three units that are in there so no one can enter in. There is just one police guard keeping an eye on everything," she says.
"My heart feels so much for the people involved. I keep replaying in my mind that very first moment, probably about 9:40pm, had something actually happened then, or was that the start or beginning of whatever has gone on there.
"I feel quite sick that maybe we should have walked out and maybe have poked our heads over the fences and explored a little bit more in case we could have perhaps prevented something.
"I feel shocked, incredibly sad for all those people that are involved."
'Why has it happened in our community?'
The town's Mayor, Nigel Bowen, told Newshub the part of town the incident took place is "no different than any other suburban areas".
"Why has it happened in our community? It's one of those peaceful-type communities. We haven't had anything like this for a long, long time. I think everyone's a little bit awestruck by the fact something like this has happened."
It's the second grave incident the town has faced in a matter of weeks - five young people died in a crash in August, all aged 15 and 16. Add to that the stress of the recent COVID-19 lockdown, Bowen says locals will be struggling to handle the "layers of tragedy".
"The young boys who passed earlier in the year, that was just absolutely devastating for us. I think the last funeral was just the day before everyone went into lockdown... now to have something like this, you can't say that it won't have an effect on the community. It's going to be really tough.
"It will have a ripple effect on families and friends who knew these victims and their families. It's going to be really tough in the times ahead. Bad luck comes in threes I believe, so hopefully that's it and we're good moving forward."
He said anyone struggling to cope shouldn't hesitate to call 1737 or seek help through their doctor.
"The key thing is we're just all talking to each other - stay off the social media and pick up the phone and have a conversation with someone that might need to have a chat."
