{"id":52974,"date":"2026-07-18T03:58:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T03:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/52974\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T03:58:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T03:58:11","slug":"man-charged-over-law-firm-fire-and-further-offences-after-a-tobacco-store-shooting-in-melbournes-west","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/52974\/","title":{"rendered":"Man charged over law firm fire and further offences after a tobacco store shooting in Melbourne&#8217;s west"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">A man has been charged over a fire that destroyed a law firm in Spotswood in Melbourne&#8217;s inner west two months ago.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Police alleged the fire started after a ute rammed a converted factory on Hudsons Road around 2:30am on May 26, forcing a number of sleeping residents to evacuate neighbouring properties.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">More than 50 firefighters battled the blaze for two hours before it was contained.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">There was some damage to neighbouring businesses.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Blue and white tape tied to a pole outside a shop that says &quot;Smoke n vape&quot; beside a lit up sign saying &quot;Sweeney&quot; at night.\" class=\"Image_image__5tFYM ContentImage_image__DQ_cq\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1f9a8f0e7e2e1934e17beb62edc9ec28.jpeg\" loading=\"lazy\" data-component=\"Image\" data-lazy=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"Typography_base__sj2RP FigureCaption_text__zDxQ5 Typography_sizeMobile12__w_FPC Typography_lineHeightMobile20___U7Vr Typography_regular__WeIG6 Typography_colourInherit__dfnUx\" data-component=\"Typography\">A tobacco store in Altona North was shot at on May 13. (ABC News)<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Today, detectives charged a 32-year-old man with a number of offences including arson, reckless conduct endangering life, breaching bail and driving while disqualified.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Police say the man is now also facing further charges in relation to an incident where shots were fired into an Altona North business, two weeks before the fire.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Two holes in the damaged glass of a shopfront at night.\" class=\"Image_image__5tFYM ContentImage_image__DQ_cq\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/c9dfbf78e40c3df12b87e4f5dc5b89e8.jpeg\" loading=\"lazy\" data-component=\"Image\" data-lazy=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"Typography_base__sj2RP FigureCaption_text__zDxQ5 Typography_sizeMobile12__w_FPC Typography_lineHeightMobile20___U7Vr Typography_regular__WeIG6 Typography_colourInherit__dfnUx\" data-component=\"Typography\">Bullet hit the front window of the Altona North tobacco shop. (ABC News)<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;The new charges include possess firearm when firearm prohibition order applies (x2), possess traffickable quantity of firearms (2 or more), reckless conduct endanger life, possess drug of dependence, going equipped to steal, handle stolen goods,&#8221; police said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The man has been remanded in custody to appear in court in relation to both incidents in October.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A man has been charged over a fire that destroyed a law firm in Spotswood in Melbourne&#8217;s inner&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":52975,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[2034,1113,8005,1109,844,260,1047,41588,1559,2183],"class_list":["post-52974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-melbourne","tag-arson","tag-bail","tag-charges","tag-court","tag-fire","tag-melbourne","tag-police","tag-ram","tag-shooting","tag-tobacco"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52974\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}