Before you continue
This case involves crimes against children. Casepin presents the record in neutral, non-graphic language. Choose whether to continue.
Solved case · 1996
Also known as Hillcrest shooting · Hillcrest familicide
The short answer
On 25 January 1996, Peter May, identified by police as the gunman, shot and killed his estranged wife Helen, their three children, and her parents in Logan City, Queensland, before killing himself.
The coverage index
No one's coverage is attached to this file yet.
Know great coverage of this case?
A documentary, a podcast episode, a careful long-form video. Suggest it and an editor will review it before it appears here.
Suggest coverage for this caseThe case file
On 25 January 1996, a familicide occurred in and around the suburb of Hillcrest, in Logan City, Queensland, Australia. Peter May, aged 32 at the time, identified by police as the gunman, shot and killed six people that day: his estranged wife, Helen May; their three children, Lisa (11), Andrew (9), and Natalie (7); and his parents-in-law, Jim and Rita Potter. He then took his own life. May was described as a problematic gambler with a history of domestic violence.
The killings occurred in two locations. May's three children were shot dead at an address in Ellen Grove, in Brisbane's southwest, where they were apparently staying or living. He then drove to Hillcrest, where his estranged wife Helen was staying with her parents, Jim and Rita Potter. At the Hillcrest address, May killed Jim and Rita Potter. As Helen attempted to escape, he dragged her back inside the house and shot her dead before killing himself.
In the period leading up to the shooting, May had reportedly visited a Men's Rights Agency (MRA) about a month prior to the killings. He was told there that he had little hope of seeing his children after his wife had left him. It has been alleged that the agency may have encouraged May to use a private investigator to track down his wife's secret address after she left him; the agency itself denied that its advice contributed to the tragedy.
The Hillcrest shooting is described as one of Australia's most high-profile cases of domestic violence and one of the country's worst mass shootings. It occurred approximately three months before the Port Arthur massacre, which took place in April 1996 and prompted major changes to Australian firearms law. The case is also noted alongside the 2018 Osmington shooting in Western Australia, a familicide with a comparable death toll.
3 dated entries · 1995–1996
Peter May reportedly visited a Men's Rights Agency about a month before the shooting, after his wife left him.
Peter May, identified by police as the gunman, shot and killed his three children at an Ellen Grove address in Brisbane's southwest.
Peter May drove to Hillcrest, killed his parents-in-law Jim and Rita Potter, and shot dead his estranged wife Helen May as she tried to escape, before killing himself.
7 named in this file
Victims first. Every legal label is set from public records and court outcomes, not from the prose.
Son of Peter and Helen May, aged 9; shot dead at an Ellen Grove address.[3]
Estranged wife of Peter May; shot dead at the Hillcrest address after being dragged back inside as she tried to escape.[3]
Father of Helen May; shot dead at the Hillcrest address.[3]
Daughter of Peter and Helen May, aged 11; shot dead at an Ellen Grove address.[3]
Daughter of Peter and Helen May, aged 7; shot dead at an Ellen Grove address.[3]
Mother of Helen May; shot dead at the Hillcrest address.[3]
Identified as the perpetrator who shot and killed his estranged wife, their three children, and her parents in Logan City, Queensland on 25 January 1996; he died by suicide at the scene, so was never prosecuted.[3]
3 cited
Coverage is not a source: every fact in this file rests on the records below.
Official / agencyaph.gov.auAccessed Jul 7, 2026
Pressnews.com.auAccessed Jul 7, 2026
EncyclopedicWikipediaAccessed Jul 7, 2026
Trust
Are you family of someone named in this file? Corrections and removal requests from victims’ families are prioritized.
Near this case
Credit: ABC News (Australia), via English Wikipedia·Editorial use·SourceSOLVEDListenLogan City, Queensland, Australia · 2010s
Tiahleigh Palmer, a 12-year-old girl from Logan City, Queensland, was murdered by her foster father in October 2015; he pleaded guilty in 2018 and was sentenced to life imprisonment.
OVERTURNEDListenGoodna / Redbank Plains, Queensland, Australia · 1990s
Twelve-year-old Leanne Holland was found dead in bushland near Goodna, Queensland, in September 1991. Graham Stafford, her sister's boyfriend, was convicted of her murder in 1992 but his conviction was overturned in 2009 as a miscarriage of justice after he had served over 14 years in prison; prosecutors declined to pursue a retrial in 2010.
Credit: Q8682·CC BY-SA 4.0·SourceSOLVEDListenCamp Hill, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia · 2020s
On 19 February 2020, Rowan Charles Baxter set fire to a car containing his estranged wife Hannah Clarke and their three children in Camp Hill, Brisbane, killing all four, before dying by suicide at the scene.
Credit: Ron Olsen·CC BY-SA 4.0·SourceSOLVEDListenThurston High School, Springfield, Oregon, United States · 1998
On May 21, 1998, 15-year-old Kip Kinkel opened fire in the cafeteria of Thurston High School in Springfield, Oregon, killing two students and wounding 25 others, a day after killing his parents at their home.
SOLVEDListenLuby's Cafeteria, Killeen, Texas · 1991
On October 16, 1991, George Pierre Hennard drove a pickup truck into a Luby's Cafeteria in Killeen, Texas, and opened fire, killing 23 people and wounding 27 before dying by suicide during a shootout with police.
Credit: Benchill·CC BY-SA 3.0·SourceSOLVEDListenAramoana, near Dunedin, New Zealand · 1990
A November 1990 mass shooting in the New Zealand township of Aramoana in which a local resident killed 13 people and wounded three others before police fatally shot him the next day.
