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A man is in hospital with multiple gunshot wounds and a gunman is on the run after a brazen late-night shooting in Melbourne’s west, believed to be linked to the city’s ongoing tobacco war.
Emergency services were called to a cafe on Borrack Square in Altona North around 11.30pm on Tuesday following reports someone had been shot.
When police arrived, they said they found a 49-year-old man who had been shot twice in the arm. He was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, where he remains.
Police said a silver Toyota Hilux that had been stolen from an address in Newport last month stopped outside the cafe on Tuesday night before someone inside the vehicle opened fire into a “crowd of people drinking coffees and socialising”.
Detective Inspector Graham Banks from the gang crime squad urged anyone with information about the attack to come forward to police on Wednesday.
“At this stage, we believe there is likely to be connections to the illicit tobacco conflict that’s been ongoing for a couple of years,” he said.
The Hilux was later found burnt out before 3am in Altona North.
Police did not say if the man shot was the only intended victim, or even a target at all.
“The way this has transpired, it would be impossible to say with any certainty that any person was being targeted. It may well be just a random shooting of that crowd of people to send a message, or it may well be a targeted attack on that person or someone else, and that person has been injured as a consequence,” Banks said.
“At this stage, we’re not ruling anything in or out as far as what the motive would be as far as the people there, or the location itself.”
Speaking to the possible connection to the illicit tobacco trade, he said: “The conflict we see at the moment is seeing random acts of violence that are directed at people who they perceive are opposing people, whether those people were at that premises at the time often is immaterial.
“It’s outrageous, clearly, but unfortunately this is the type of conflict we’re seeing within this space.”
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
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