{"id":503836,"date":"2026-01-09T13:42:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T13:42:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/503836\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T13:42:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T13:42:18","slug":"police-say-alleged-mullewa-shooter-kenneth-giles-was-not-a-licensed-firearms-owner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/503836\/","title":{"rendered":"Police say alleged Mullewa shooter Kenneth Giles was not a licensed firearms owner"},"content":{"rendered":"

Police say a man wanted in connection with a shooting in WA’s Midwest was not a licensed firearms holder, as the hunt for him continues without success.<\/p>\n

Kenneth John Giles, 58, has not been seen since the incident north of Mullewa<\/a> on Wednesday night, which left a woman with a gunshot wound to her hand.<\/p>\n

The woman remains in Royal Perth Hospital in a stable condition.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It has sparked an ongoing manhunt involving local police and reinforcements from Perth, including the Tactical Response Group and Police Air Wing.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the media on Friday, Midwest Gascoyne District Superintendent Neil Vanderplank said they had seized 16 firearms from the property where the shooting occurred.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Kenneth John Giles has not been seen since the shooting on Wednesday evening. (Supplied: WA Police)<\/p>\n

While the rural nature of the area meant that was not unusual, he said none of them belonged to Mr Giles.<\/p>\n

“He is not a registered firearms owner, he doesn’t own any firearms,” Superintendent Vanderplank said.<\/p>\n

“Being a skilled bushman, we expect he’s being quite clever and laying quite low.<\/p>\n

“He can hunt and survive off the land, so he can go for a while.”<\/p>\n

While police have received hundreds of tips, they are yet to establish a firm lead on Mr Giles’s whereabouts.<\/p>\n

Superintendent Vanderplank said police believed he was still in the Midwest Gascoyne district, an area covering approximately 389,000 square kilometres.<\/p>\n

He reiterated his call for Mr Giles to surrender and said police resources and reinforcements would remain in place until he was found.<\/p>\n

“We want to end this safely for him and the community,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Superintendent Vanderplank said.\"A<\/p>\n

Neil Vanderplank says police have seized 16 firearms from the property where the shooting took place.\u00a0 (ABC News: Rhiannon Shine)<\/p>\n

Victim speaking with police<\/p>\n

The superintendent also confirmed the incident was being treated as a family and domestic violence incident.<\/p>\n

He said the woman was still recovering in Perth and was speaking with detectives.<\/p>\n

“She’s obviously very, very sore, she’s going through a number of surgeries and appointments with doctors,” Superintendent Vanderplank said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Police search a property near Mullewa as part of the search for Kenneth Giles. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

“We’ve been speaking to all members of the public, including family members.”<\/p>\n

He said Mullewa police officers were first on the scene after the Wednesday night shooting, removing the victim from the house and providing initial treatment.<\/p>\n

“Obviously the safety of everyone is our paramount concern,” Superintendent Vanderplank said.<\/p>\n

He said Mr Giles’s state of mind, the circumstances leading up to the incident and the exact firearm used remained under investigation.<\/p>\n

Shocked friends hope for peaceful solution<\/p>\n

Having lived in Mullewa for around seven years, Bianca Byron knows a number of the people present during the incident on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

“I worked with the [female victim] and she’s amazing, she’s such a lovely lady,” Ms Byron said.<\/p>\n

“I honestly couldn’t believe it. It was such a shock.”<\/p>\n

She has added her voice to call from the police, locals and officials for Mr Giles to hand himself in.<\/p>\n

\"Woman<\/p>\n

Bianca Byron says the shooting has shocked and upset the community. (ABC Midwest & WHeatbelt: Chloe Henville)<\/p>\n

“Just come home safe and alive; we all still love you mate,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ms Byron said.<\/p>\n

“You’ll always be a family friend, you’re my dad’s best friend, I just want you home safe.”<\/p>\n

Police said Mr Giles should not be approached if seen and asked residents to contact Triple Zero (000) with any sightings.<\/p>\n

He is described as 173 centimetres tall, of medium build, with brown hair and brown eyes.<\/p>\n

Police believe he is driving a white Nissan Patrol ute with the registration 1BIY336.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Police say a man wanted in connection with a shooting in WA’s Midwest was not a licensed firearms…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":503837,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4740,214887,225874,225871,83859,225873,225872,50,8632,14370],"class_list":{"0":"post-503836","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-geraldton-news","10":"tag-kenneth-giles","11":"tag-kenneth-john-giles","12":"tag-manhunt","13":"tag-midwest-police","14":"tag-mullewa-shooting","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-wa-news","17":"tag-wa-police"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115865436608404960","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=503836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503836\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/503837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=503836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=503836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=503836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}