Ash Bolt
Police are appealing for information after a man was shot in his driveway in Bell Park on Sunday afternoon.
Victoria Police armed crime squad Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Brad Potts said the 40-year-old victim was standing in his driveway in Carissa Mews about 4.50pm “when it appears that an unknown male, believed to be travelling on foot, has discharged a firearm”.
The victim was shot in both his upper and lower body and collapsed in his front garden, where he was located by neighbours.
He was taken to hospital, where he remained in a “critical but stable condition”.
Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Potts said police were calling for information about the “extremely brazen and quite confronting” crime.
He said the offender was approximately 193 centimetres tall and wearing “dark clothing”.
Police believe the offender fled the scene on foot “potentially through some parkland to the south”.
Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Potts said police were asking anyone with information about the shooting, or had dash cam or CCTV footage of the area, around the time to contact Crime Stoppers.
He said police were still yet to work out the motive for the crime.
“With the victim’s condition, it’s been quite difficult to be able to speak to him, and obviously it’s very early in the investigation so the actual motive behind it, or whether it was a targeted attack remains unknown,” he said.
“The victim is known to police but we don’t think anything in his background has brought this incident on.
“If they are known to each other … [and] in terms of any dispute, we simply don’t know.”
He said police had located a motorbike at the scene, but were yet to determine whether it was connected.
“We do believe it belonged to the victim [but] we don’t know how it fits into the situation,” he said.
Police were also yet to confirm how many shots had been fired.
“At this stage we’re still determining what firearm was used – it remains outstanding,” Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Potts said.
“We’re still making enquiries into how many shots were discharged.
“The victim has sustained two wounds, but whether that’s [from] one or more shots, we don’t know.”
He said the crime had left neighbours “shaken”, but police had been on scene throughout Sunday night and Monday to solve the crime.
“Any offending involving the discharging of a firearm is extremely concerning and even more so that it occurred at 5pm in a residential area,” he said.
“We are keen to provide reassurance to the community … Victoria Police is committed to investigating thoroughly and solving the crime.”
Reports can be made to Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or online at crimestoppersvic.com.au.
