The grandmother of missing boy Gus Lamont has waved a pump-action shotgun at a Daily Mail reporter who enquired about the ongoing search for her grandson.
Senior reporter Jonica Bray arrived at the remote property near Yunta, on the sweeping Outback plains of South Australia, on Thursday to ask the family if they wanted to share their story.
Ms Bray had offered her condolences to Gus’s other grandmother Shannon Murray, who declined to comment, and was leaving the property when the weapon was pulled on her.
As the reporter walked back to her vehicle, Josie Murray appeared from the far side of the house clutching the firearm in one hand and a bullet case in the other.
‘Who are you?’ she demanded, brandishing the weapon.
Josie’s wife Shannon explained she had the situation under control, however, when Ms Bray appropriately identified herself, Josie appeared to become enraged and waved the gun around.
‘Get out! You are trespassing, get out, get out,’ she yelled. ‘Are you deaf? Get out!’
Ms Bray replied that she ‘was leaving’ already.
‘Shut your face and get out,’ Josie yelled back. Both the reporter and the photographer who accompanied her then left the property.
The grandmother of missing boy Gus Lamont waved a pump-action shotgun at a Daily Mail reporter when she arrived to ask about the search for her grandson
Josie Murray is pictured holding the pump-action shotgun
Police will resume the search at the farm in the remote South Australian Outback on Friday
The altercation happened hours before South Australia Police announced the search for Gus would resume for a third time on Friday.
Despite two previous major search operations involving SAPOL, Air Pol, the ADF and SES, the four-year-old has not been found.
Monday marked one month since he vanished from his grandparents’ remote Oak Park sheep station, about 43km south of Yunta.
The only trace of Gus has been a footprint in the red dirt, believed to match the boots he was wearing when he disappeared about 5.30pm while playing in a sandpile under his grandmother’s care.
In Friday’s search, officers will once again focus on the family’s homestead and are preparing to drain the dam, which has already been searched by police dive teams.
‘The draining of the dam will enable a comprehensive visual search to be completed, particularly areas with underwater vegetation,’ a statement from police read.
‘The renewed search of the dam is being undertaken to rule out the possibility Gus may have drowned.
‘This follows extensive ground and air searches of the area surrounding the homestead since Gus disappeared.’
Monday marked a month since four-year-old Gus vanished from his grandparents’ remote Oak Park sheep station, about 43km south of Yunta
He was last seen playing in a makeshift sandpit on the homestead
Officers will once again focus the search on the family’s homestead and are preparing to drain the dam
The dam is about 600metres from the homestead and roughly 4.5metres deep.
Australian Defence Force personnel have also been called in to help.
Two hours away from the Murray’s station, Gus’s father Joshua Lamont had been living in and renovating a home in Belalie North.
Since Gus went missing, the house appears to have been deserted, with talk of a deepening rift between him and the rest of the Murray family.
‘Josh has been banned from the homestead,’ one friend told Daily Mail. ‘There is a lot of emotions, and things have been said that can’t be taken back.’
Mr Lamont’s concerned mates have begun doing quiet welfare checks at his house, worried about his mental state.
‘We don’t know where he is and are worried we are going to find him dead out there,’ the friend said.
‘He’s angry and heartbroken, he will never recover until he knows what happened.’
Unlike the Murrays, those who know Mr Lamont describe him as outspoken and fiery, and not the type to stay silent.
‘Things like this can affect people in different ways but Josh speaks his mind and always has,’ they said.
Josh Lamont is pictured after his son vanished without a trace
The half-finished house where Mr Lamont had been living sits eerily still
Mr Lamont appears to have abandoned the house he was renovating for his young family
‘He is always falling out with people for running his mouth off, so that is what we do not get.’
Mr Lamont, who never lived permanently on the Murray’s family farm, was renovating his property for the family to move into before Gus started school.
‘I don’t think he will ever return now,’ the friend said. ‘What’s the point, you know? All those plans they had together.
‘He wants answers, he needs them, or how can he move on?’
It is understood Mr Lamont only found out his child was missing when police woke him up at his Belalie North home, hours after Gus had vanished.
A source said he ‘clashed’ with Josie and wasn’t happy with his children being raised on the station.
The whereabouts of Gus’s mother, Jessica Murray, is not clear with locals saying neither she nor her one-year-old son Ronnie have been seen in the area since the devastating events unfolded.
Friends describe Jess as a quiet and highly intelligent woman.
Jessica Murray has been described as quiet and shy
‘She actually skipped her final year of high school to go to university,’ said one.
‘Academically, she’s very smart and a high achiever, but she’s really shy and hardly talks.’
South Australia Police said there are no suspicious circumstances surrounding Gus’s disappearance and that they believe the boy had wandered off. Daily Mail does not suggest otherwise.
Grandmother Shannon discovered Gus was gone when she went to call him inside for dinner about 5.30pm. The family reported him missing three hours later.
Shannon was inside the homestead looking after Gus’ one-year-old brother Ronnie when the little boy vanished.
It has been reported that Gus’s mum Jessica was with Josie looking for lost sheep about 10km from the homestead when Gus disappeared.
A close friend of Shannon and Josie’s suggested Gus could have simply wandered off to look for his mum.
‘It is very easy to get lost on a station that size,’ said the friend.
‘Shannon grew up out there and she almost got lost a few years ago.
‘Her and Josie were out on motorbikes sorting out the sheep one afternoon and they got separated for a while. She had to turn off her bike to listen out for Josie’s to find her way back.
‘He’s a happy little boy, happy to do his own thing. But when you address him, he gets shy and hides,’ they said.
dailymail,news
#Fiery #moment #Gus #Lamonts #trans #grandmother #waves #pumpaction #shotgun #ERUPTS #explosive #tirade #Daily #Mail #reporter #police #prepare #drain #dam #property #boy #vanished