A 19-year-old Jimboomba woman remains critical after being shot in the head and neck outside Fitzys Hotel in Loganholme on Saturday night, as police urge the community to help identify those responsible.
Logan district officer Chief Superintendent Mel Adams appealed to anyone who knew or suspected who was behind the attack to think of the families whose lives had been changed.
“This could have been your family member,” she said.
“Her family is distraught. The families of the other victims are distraught,” Chief Superintendent Adams said.
“Her family continue to marshal at the hospital at her bedside, and our thoughts and prayers are with them.”
She said the harrowing experience of the 19-year-old had resonated with the community.
“An innocent 19-year-old, your life’s just starting, and you find yourself in a hospital bed by being at a popular venue in a regular sporting event with mums and kids,” she said.
“If that isn’t motivation enough for us as a community to step up and actually do what we can to support that family, but support the wider security of this community, I don’t know what else could be such motivation.”
Police said there were elements of planning in the attack, but would not say whether it was targeted or gang-related.
“I wouldn’t use the term targeted, but there were elements of pre-planning that lead us to say it was not random,” she said.
The chief superintendent said victims had spoken with police when medical treatment allowed.
The vehicle used in the attack was a silver Mitsubishi ASX without number plates.It was later burnt at Moloney Rd, Waterford West.
Police had information suggesting it had been moving around Logan, including near Fitzys, in the hours before the shooting.
Inside the hotel, families were attending a boxing event which began at around 5pm. Other patrons were inside the hotel.
At intermission, some mingled outside the event entrance.
At the same time, around 8.15pm, a balaclava-and-glove-wearing bandit fired at least six shots from the front passenger window.
Four bystanders were hit – a teenage girl, 19, from Jimboomba shot in the head and neck; a man, 38, from Browns Plains; a man, 27, from Cornubia, and a 37-year-old man from Salisbury, all shot in the stomach.
Stephen March, who had been asked to judge the boxing, said he had watched several junior bouts before the intermission and was approaching the front door when he heard the gunfire.
“When I got near the door, about five feet away, that’s when I heard the gunshots,” he said.
“If I had have been another 10 seconds earlier, I would have been outside standing around somewhere.”
Mr March described people fleeing inside.
“People were running everywhere… people were crying, there was a lot of commotion going on,” he said.
“I walked outside and saw a person lying on the walkway, I noticed there was a fair bit of blood. There was a couple of people around trying to help them.”
Aaron Fail said he helped move injured people inside and said patrons used their own t-shirts as tourniquets.
“We tried to bring people inside to make sure they were okay,” he said.
Police arrived three minutes later. Soon after, up to 56 crews attended the scene.
Ambulance officers, police and patrons tended to those caught in the carnage.
Each of the victims underwent surgery on Saturday night.
Det Inspector Ian Galpin said one of the occupants might have suffered burns or another injury when the car was set alight.
Chief Superintendent Adams said there was no ongoing threat to the community and no intelligence suggesting reprisal attacks.
“I can tell you we will solve this crime. We absolutely will,” she said.
“But to do that, we need community input and we need community support.”
She said Lifeline and the Victims of Crime Community Response program were offering support to victims, families, witnesses and the wider community at the Logan Hyperdome from 9am-5pm today.
“Lifeline are there for that general community support and for those people who need to talk to someone,” she said.
Contact Policelink on 131 444 or Crime Stoppers anonymously on 1800 333 000.
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