The distant sound of marching bands echoed across the town as forensic officers worked behind the cordon where the bodies of three members of the same family had been discovered.
The unmistakable sound of Lambeg drums rolled across Ballymena as thousands of people made their way home from Twelfth celebrations in the blistering heat.
Just streets away, behind blue-and-white police tape on the Old Cullybackey Road, detectives continued their painstaking examination of a house where three members of the same family had been found dead.
The Twelfth parades had been held on Monday after 12th July fell on a Sunday, drawing crowds into the town from early morning. Yet as the festivities continued elsewhere, police remained at the scene of a tragedy that has left the local community reeling.
The only sounds on the cordoned-off streets were the occasional hum of police vehicles, officers speaking quietly among themselves and, every so often, the distant music of another marching band drifting across the rooftops of the detached properties before disappearing once again into stillness.
Throughout the afternoon, forensic officers could be seen making repeated journeys between the house and a waiting van as investigators continued to piece together what had happened.
Police officers maintained their positions in the sweltering heat as temperatures climbed under cloudless blue skies.
The cordon ended beside a nearby supermarket and filling station, one of the few places still busy on the bank holiday. Most shoppers collected what they needed before quietly heading on with their day. A handful paused briefly to look towards the police tape before moving on. Others emerged carrying bottles of water, handing them to officers who had spent hours standing guard in the summer sun.
For many in Ballymena, news of the deaths of the male and two females spread while locals were watching the Twelfth parades, as conversations that had begun with the day’s celebrations quickly turned to the tragedy unfolding only a short distance away.
North Antrim DUP MLA Paul Frew said the prevailing emotions were “shock and then sadness.”
“It is a day of celebration in the town,” he said. “The parade routes [were] filled with people celebrating the Twelfth. People are coming to terms with and only finding out about this tragedy on the parade route, talking to their neighbours, talking to the people beside them on the parade route, so it’s one of shock and then one of sadness.”
Mr Frew said the most important message from the police was that there was no wider risk to the public while detectives carried out their investigation.
Sinn Féin MLA Philip McGuigan described the deaths as “absolutely heartbreaking.”
“The local community are obviously and clearly in shock and devastated by what has happened here today,” he said.
“My condolences go out to the wider family, but also to the local community here who will be in absolute shock about the events that have happened here in Ballymena today.”
He urged people not to speculate while police established the circumstances surrounding the deaths.
“I don’t think it’s helpful to speculate about the tragic circumstances of this,” he said.
“I think it’s important to allow the police the time and space to do their investigation.”
TUV leader and North Antrim MP Jim Allister said the incident had shaken “a very settled part of Ballymena.”
“The sense of shock that such a thing would happen here is palpable,” he said.
“The day that’s in it, a lot of people are away coming back to discover what has happened, and it truly is very upsetting and very shocking.”
As the afternoon wore on, the music of the Twelfth continued to drift intermittently as a private ambulance removed the bodies from the scene. But on the Old Cullybackey Road, this bank holiday will be remembered not for sunshine or celebration, but for the profound silence that settled over a community coming to terms with an unimaginable loss.
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