NSW police believe assistance has been provided ‘from people that he knows in community’ since last week’s shooting

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• Warning: This article contains references to Indigenous Australians who have died

Police are “confident” triple murder suspect Julian Ingram is still alive and believe he has been receiving help from people he knows in the area, a week after three people were shot dead in a small New South Wales town.

The NSW police assistant commissioner, Andrew Holland, said investigators were confident Ingram, 37, may have been helped by “people that he knows in community given the temperatures” of more than 40C recorded in the area.