A young woman is fighting for life after a brazen drive-by shooting tore into a crowd outside a Logan pub, with police believing she was likely an “innocent bystander”.
Four people were shot as crowds left Fitzys Loganholme after a boxing event on Saturday night, in an attack Logan Mayor Jon Raven described as sending a “shockwave” through the community.
Queensland Police received reports about 8.15pm of shots fired from a vehicle outside the licensed premises on Bryants Road. The Mitsubishi allegedly used in the attack was later found burnt out at Waterford West. Police believe another car then collected the offenders, with at least three people thought to be involved.
Detective Inspector Ian Galpin indicated the 19-year-old woman from Jimboomba was not believed to have been targeted.
“I don’t believe the young lady was an intended victim of this, I believe she was an innocent bystander,” Detective Inspector Ian Galpin said.
“It appals me, it’s horrific.
“It’s something that she and her family should never have to go through.”
As of Sunday morning, the woman remained in a critical and unstable condition after suffering gunshot wounds to the head and neck and undergoing surgery.
A 38-year-old Browns Plains man and a 37-year-old Salisbury man were both shot in the abdomen, with the Browns Plains man also wounded in the arm. Both have undergone surgery and are in serious but stable conditions.
A 27-year-old Cornubia man remains in a stable condition in hospital after surgery for a gunshot wound to the abdomen.
Bikie task force Maxima officers involved in investigation
Detective Inspector Galpin described it as too early to speculate on a motive, but confirmed Task Force Maxima officers were involved in the investigation.
“At this point in the investigation, it would be premature of me to speculate on the involvement of any gang member or organised crime,” Inspector Galpin said.
“But obviously that will form a very important part of our ongoing investigations.”
He urged those responsible to hand themselves in and warned against anyone helping them avoid police.
“My message to these people would be to contact police, because we will identify you and we will catch up with you,” he said.
“We have a young lady who is currently fighting for life and I appeal to anyone that has any information whatsoever to please contact police and assist us with this investigation,” he said.
“This incident is clearly not acceptable, we will not tolerate it, and we are applying all our resources to identifying those involved.”
Police believe there is no ongoing threat to the public.
The crowd had been leaving Fitzys after attending the Logan City Titles Fights, promoted as an Australian National Boxing Federation event featuring 12 amateur and professional bouts. Logan Mayor Jon Raven described the event as a family-friendly night out.
“They’re a really family-friendly environment,” Mr Raven said.
“I know that there was lots of children who were there last night. This is going to impact them for the rest of their lives.”
He also described the shooting as deeply unsettling for locals.
“People are scared,” he told Weekend Today.
“This has sent a shockwave through Logan because we’ve never seen anything like this happen in our city before.”
Mr Raven praised emergency services for their quick response.
“I spoke to someone who was there. They said they couldn’t believe how quickly the police responded, and then ambulances were there within moments as well,” Mr Raven said.
“So I just want to give a huge shout out to our first responders who got there so quickly to establish that people could feel safe again and make sure that the scene was okay for people to be able to go home afterwards.”
Nationals MP David Littleproud condemned those behind the shooting, describing the alleged offenders as “animals”.
“This is just frightening, the malicious intent to drive by with intent to harm and kill,” Mr Littleproud said, according to the Courier Mail.
“This is not the Australia I grew up in and not the Australia we should hand over to the next generation”.
“We need to get these animals off the streets.”
Queensland Police Commissioner Brett Pointing has briefed Premier David Crisafulli on the “horrendous crime”, according to the Courier Mail.
“It’s just completely unacceptable that people on a night out at a pub, doing something as Queenslander as you can possibly find, can find themselves as collateral damage in such a horrendous, horrendous crime,” Mr Crisafulli said.
“I just don’t think there’s a single Queenslander who will look at that and say that’s the kind of world that we as Queenslanders want to ever see.”
The Queensland government this year introduced tougher drive-by shooting laws aimed at deterring and punishing offenders. Mr Crisafulli said he hoped those laws would be applied in this case.
“It’s my hope that these people responsible for it are arrested and that those new laws apply to them, because this isn’t the Queensland we want to see,” he said.
Anyone with information is urged to contact police.