A gunshot, a serious crash and a petrol incident kept Geelong emergency services busy on Thursday.
Police arrested four youths after one allegedly fired a gun in a home invasion on the Bellarine Highway in Leopold about 2.20am.
The group smashed the front windows and broke into the home before threatening a man with a gun, police said.
One held the father downstairs and demanded money while two others assaulted his son and ransacked the property, according to police reports.
A shot was fired towards the father as the offenders took off but no-one was injured, police said.
Three people were home at the time of the incident, a 46-year-old man, a 46-year-old woman and an 18-year-old man.
The group then drove away in a black Commodore.
Police arrested a 19-year-old Eumemmerring man, a 19-year-old man of no fixed address, a 17-year-old Hampton East boy and a 17-year-old Newcomb boy that afternoon in Melbourne’s south-east.
Police planned to interview the four youths in relation to the incident.
Victoria Police’s armed crime squad was investigating the incident on Thursday and urged anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Later that day a crash in Armstrong Creek left a woman fighting for her life.
An ambulance helicopter transported the woman in a critical condition to Royal Melbourne Hospital, an Ambulance Victoria spokesperson said.
The crash reportedly involved two cars.
One of the cars, carrying the women and her passengers, smashed into a tree on Lower Duneed Rd.
CFA crews took about 20 minutes to cut open the car and free the woman, Belmont Station Officer Darrel Glessing said.
Police closed the road between Horseshoe Rd and Charlemont Rd as paramedics treated the woman and loaded her into the helicopter.
Paramedics also examined a preschool-aged girl, the Ambulance Victoria spokesperson said.
An ambulance took the girl to Geelong Hospital in a stable condition with “no obvious injuries”, they said.
At about the same time on Thursday Corio CFA responded to a Towonga Court resident reportedly dousing himself in petrol.
But when crews arrived at the home they found the man inside filling a lawnmower with petrol, according to Corio CFA senior station officer Mark Bellew.
“That’s what he was claiming,” he said. “It was a bit of a false alarm in the end.”
“Our job was pretty easy at that one – we just go to the place and make sure it’s not full of fumes and doesn’t blow up.”
