‘Pew, pew’: Lamarre-Condon allegedly confessed to friend about double murder

Read the original at The Sydney Morning Herald ↗
Cite

Whitbourn, M. (2026, October 23). ‘Pew, pew’: Lamarre-Condon allegedly confessed to friend about double murder. The Sydney Morning Herald. https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/pew-pew-lamarre-condon-allegedly-confessed-to-friend-about-double-murder-20261023-p6180t.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_feed

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

The Sydney Morning Herald · collected 2026-10-23 · by Michaela Whitbourn
Content note This article describes violence described in detail.

Quick Summary

Beau Lamarre-Condon, a former New South Wales police officer, is on trial for allegedly killing Jesse Baird and Luke Davies on February 19, 2024. According to testimony in the NSW Supreme Court, Lamarre-Condon confessed to a friend that he had shot the two victims with his service weapon and asked for help cleaning up evidence of the crime. The friend said Lamarre-Condon made gun sounds while describing the murders and later showed him his police-issued Glock pistol during a drive near Royal National Park.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-23, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

Beau Lamarre-Condon, a former police officer in Sydney, is on trial for the double murder of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies at a Paddington home in February 2024. A friend of his testified that Lamarre-Condon told her they were going to a farm south of Sydney to "save" cattle but actually planned to dump the bodies. Another witness, known as Elizabeth Kennedy for legal reasons, described being asked to cover number plates and help cut through locks at a gate using an angle grinder while wearing gloves. During this trial, another friend testified that Lamarre-Condon called him after the alleged murders, saying "Hey bro, I need to speak to you," and mimicked gun sounds as he confessed to killing two people. The defense argues self-defense for both murders.

Written for “Lamarre-Condon Double Murder Trial Evidence” on 2026-10-23, grounded in this article and the 4 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Lamarre-Condon Double Murder Trial Evidence
Crime & Law · 5 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 13% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
The Sydney Morning Herald
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 7% hedged 3 of 46 📰 publisher trust 61
“The articles describe different events: one involves Lamarre-Condon allegedly breaking into Baird's home to steal his phone after being rejected, while the other describes him confessing a murder to a friend and asking for help cleaning up the crime scene.”
Daily Mail
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 50% hedged 7 of 14 📰 publisher trust 64
“The articles describe different aspects of the incident: one covers Beau Lamarre-Condon's behavior after the alleged murders, including shopping and dining with a friend; the other describes his confession to a friend about the murders.”
ABC News (AU)
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 2% hedged 1 of 40 📰 publisher trust 68
“Both articles describe testimony in the same court case regarding Beau Lamarre-Condon's alleged confession to a friend about murdering Jesse Baird and Luke Davies, indicating they are reporting on the same specific trial event.”
Daily Mail
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 13% hedged 2 of 15 📰 publisher trust 64
“Article A describes the release of CCTV footage showing Lamarre-Condon driving a van with the bodies into a Bunnings carpark, while Article B details his confession to a friend about the murders and seeking help to clean up. These are different specific incidents.”
The Guardian
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 20% hedged 4 of 20 📰 publisher trust 66
“The articles describe different aspects of the investigation and trial of Beau Lamarre-Condon, one focusing on his visit to McDonald’s in a van used for alleged disposal of bodies, and the other on his confession to a friend about killing two people.”
ABC News (AU)
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 6% hedged 2 of 35 📰 publisher trust 68
“Both articles describe Beau Lamarre-Condon's friend testifying in court about Lamarre-Condon confessing to having killed two people, discussing cleaning up evidence, and making comments like 'pew, pew' or joking about the weight of bodies.”
The Guardian
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 16% hedged 5 of 31 📰 publisher trust 66
“The articles describe different parts of the trial with distinct details about what Lamarre-Condon allegedly said to his friend.”
Daily Mail
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 40% hedged 4 of 10 📰 publisher trust 64
“While both articles discuss Beau Lamarre-Condon's alleged murders and his relationship with the victim Jesse Baird, they describe different aspects of the incident and are based on testimonies from distinct court dates.”
The Guardian
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 18% hedged 3 of 17 📰 publisher trust 66
“The articles describe different parts of the same ongoing case but separate incidents: one involves Lamarre-Condon's surgery and his alleged disposal of bodies, while the other describes his confession to a friend.”
ABC News (AU)
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 3% hedged 1 of 30 📰 publisher trust 68
“The articles describe different testimonies in the trial with distinct details and content.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
46
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
13%
6 of 46 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
61/100
The Sydney Morning Herald's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
5
Crime & Law
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-23 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

The Sydney Morning Herald · 4746 article(s) · 11 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 11 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Michaela Whitbourn
27 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 Lamarre-Condon said the second person “wasn’t even meant to be shot” but he couldn’t leave any witnesses, the man said.
🔮 I was running a tad late or I would have loved to chat for longer.
🔮 “My kids needed stuff for school and I couldn’t afford it.”
🔮 She said they subsequently spoke on the phone and he “asked me if I could do him a favour”.
🔮 He said that “the original shot would have been discharged at a very similar distance” of between five and ten centimetres from the door.
🔮 Moon said there was one officer who had the same type of cartridge, meaning it was “possibly a cartridge that may have been distributed to NSW Police at some time”.
🔮 The Crown has foreshadowed that the court will hear evidence that Lamarre-Condon asked the friend who accompanied him on the first shopping trip whether he would fit inside the surfboard bag.
🔮 Lamarre-Condon’s criminal trial heard on Wednesday that the woman, known as Elizabeth Kennedy in the proceedings, gave an induced statement to police, meaning a statement given on the condition that what is disclosed will not be used against them in any criminal proceeding.
🔮 “[He] knew the gravity of the situation that he was in and how it might be perceived and was overawed by it,” he said.
🔮 The document says Freund lodged a complaint in May this year against Chief Judge Michael Allen with the Judicial Commission of NSW, alleging he had “engaged in bullying conduct” towards her.
2026-10-02 · mixed framing · Top Sydney judge launches explosive legal action
Also by Michaela Whitbourn
Yacht gutted by fierce blaze off Double Bay
2026-10-17 · The Sydney Morning Herald
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 27 articles by Michaela Whitbourn →

Topics

NSW Network Ten Qantas Tesla the NSW Supreme Court

Subjects

Lamarre-Condon PERSON · 17× NSW GPE · 2× Beau PERSON · 1× Beau Lamarre-Condon PERSON · 1× Jesse Baird PERSON · 1× Luke Davies PERSON · 1× Network Ten ORG · 1× Qantas ORG · 1× Sydney GPE · 1× the NSW Supreme Court ORG · 1×

Narrative

While the Crown alleges Baird’s murder was premeditated and Lamarre-Condon shot Davies through Baird’s bedroom door to eliminate a witness, the defence case is that both men died accidentally in a struggle and Davies shot himself.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-23
🔮 Lamarre-Condon said the second person “wasn’t even meant to be shot” but he couldn’t leave any witnesses, the man said.
2026-10-23 · The Sydney Morning Herald
‘Pew, pew’: Lamarre-Condon allegedly confessed to friend about double murder · assertive framing

Claims (46 extracted, 6 hedged)

Beau Lamarre-Condon made a “pew, pew” sound to mimic a gun as he confessed to a friend that he had killed two people and asked for help to clean the crime scene, a court has heard. asserted
court → make → scene
The former friend testified in the NSW Supreme Court on Friday that Lamarre-Condon, then a NSW police officer, was “stressed and panicked” as he revealed he had shot two people with his service weapon. asserted
he → testify → weapon
“I was in shock,” the man said. asserted
man → say → shock
“I didn’t know what to do.” asserted
I → know → what
Lamarre-Condon, 31, is standing trial on two counts of murder over the shooting deaths of Jesse Baird, 26, a former Network Ten producer and presenter, and Luke Davies, 29, a Qantas flight attendant, on February 19, 2024. asserted
Condon → stand → February
The former NSW police officer has pleaded not guilty to the charges. asserted
officer → plead → charges
The witness told the court that Lamarre-Condon called him on an unknown number after the alleged murders and said: “Hey bro, I need to speak to you. asserted
I → tell → you
I’m out the front of [your work].” asserted
I → ’m → work
The accused was in a rented car rather than his distinctive grey Tesla, the court heard. asserted
court → accuse → Tesla
The man said Lamarre-Condon told him: “I’ve done something. asserted
I → say → something
I’ve killed people.” asserted
I → kill → people
It “felt like it was an out-of-body experience”, he said the accused told him. asserted
accused → feel → him
He said Lamarre-Condon “made a gesture with his fingers indicating a firearm” and said “pew, pew”, telling him he had used “my gun”. asserted
he → say → gun
“I shot the first one through the head and the second one through the door,” he said Lamarre-Condon told him. “He said that he … waited for the other tenants of the property to leave and then made entry,” the witness said. asserted
witness → shoot → entry
Lamarre-Condon said the second person “wasn’t even meant to be shot” but he couldn’t leave any witnesses, the man said. asserted
man → say → witnesses
‘I shot the first one through the head and the second one through the door.’ asserted
I → shoot → door
The accused asked him to take the day off work “to help him clean up his mess”, the man said, but he told Lamarre-Condon he could not take the day off. uncertain
he → accuse → day
The witness said Lamarre-Condon later told him: “Did you like my Oscar performance? asserted
you → say → performance
Got you, I was just joking.” asserted
I → get → you
He said he was “quite angry that someone would even joke about that” and told Lamarre-Condon that this was “not a f---ing joke, you’re mentally f---ing with me, this is not cool”. asserted
this → say → me
Lamarre-Condon had responded that it “is real; I just don’t want you to tell anyone”, he said. asserted
he → respond → anyone
He recalled another conversation in which Lamarre-Condon said he was going to “dump them in a body of water” at “a mate’s property”, and he replied that they would float. asserted
they → recall → property
“You were right, bodies do float,” Lamarre-Condon allegedly told him at a later date. uncertain
Condon → float → date
The man said the accused took him for a drive to the Royal National Park in Sydney’s south in early 2024 after telling him in a phone call: “I need to show you something; I can’t tell you.” asserted
I → say → you
Lamarre-Condon pulled his police-issued Glock pistol out of a brown paper bag, he said, and told him he was going to shoot the weapon using bullets from police training. asserted
he → pull → training
“I was kind of in shock at that point,” the man said. asserted
man → say → point
Lamarre-Condon handed him his police-issued radio, he said, and asked him to “listen out for any reports of police movement in this direction after he shot the firearm”. asserted
he → hand → firearm
After firing the gun into bushland, the accused allegedly asked his friend: “Was that loud? uncertain
that → fire → friend
“He then proceeded to put the firearm back into the bag and then said, ‘Does this make any difference to the sound?’ and ... proceeded to shoot another shot into the bushland,” the man said. asserted
man → proceed → bushland
The former friend said he told Lamarre-Condon: “You could hear that anywhere. uncertain
You → say → that
It was super loud, but I was also standing 30 centimetres away from where the gun was fired.” asserted
gun → stand → ?
It “echoed” through the gully, the man said. asserted
man → echo → gully
“I know that he found one [cartridge] … but I don’t think the other one was found,” he said. asserted
he → know → cartridge
“Beau was looking for the cartridges and asked me to also look on the ground.” asserted
Beau → look → ground
The accused told him afterwards that “you can’t tell anyone about this”, the witness said. asserted
witness → accuse → this
The man testified that Lamarre-Condon told him, in about December 2023 or January 2024, before the national park trip, that he wanted “to buy a suppressor or a silencer, which is to muffle the sound of a gun going off”. asserted
which → testify → gun
“He said that he was going hunting on a mate’s farm,” he said. asserted
he → say → farm
But they could not find one at a particular shop, he said. uncertain
he → find → shop
The man said Lamarre-Condon had told him on February 17, 2024, two days before the alleged murders, that “I’ve got to get my surfboard back from Jesse” and bought a surfboard bag. asserted
I → say → bag
The man said he did not believe that Lamarre-Condon surfed. asserted
Condon → say → ?
…and 6 more, not listed.
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