Two children have been found dead in a Blue Mountains home by their father with the boys’ mother in hospital under police guard.
New South Wales police said officers were called to the home in Faulconbridge at about midday on Tuesday over welfare concerns for a woman and two children.
The bodies of the boys, aged nine and 11, were discovered inside the home by their father, also a resident, who then contacted police, Supt John Nelson said.
Police said their 42-year-old mother had self-inflicted injuries and was taken to Westmead hospital in Sydney under police guard. She was in a stable condition and had been arrested, the NSW police commissioner, Karen Webb, told reporters.
Nelson, the commander of the Blue Mountains police area, said officers had found a “tragic scene” and all avenues were open to investigation.
Webb, speaking in the Blue Mountains, said NSW police had dealt with a number of “awful and tragic matters” in recent weeks.
“So it’s important that I’m here to support the officers,” she said.
“The older and more experienced you get in this job … things like this still cut to the core. What is not lost on me is that we’ve got officers here [with] children this age.”
The 42-year-old woman was known to police for minor matters, Webb said.
“There is no ongoing threat to the community,” a police spokesperson said earlier in a statement. “Police are not looking for anyone else.”
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Officers from the Blue Mountains were investigating the circumstances of the deaths assisted by the homicide squad.
Anyone with information was urged to contact Crime Stoppers.