Drive-by shocks quiet suburb
Home sprayed with gunfire
BIKIE-BUSTING Taskforce Maxima is investigating after two men on a motorcycle sprayed a northern Gold Coast house with bullets early yesterday.
The Bulletin can reveal that at about 1.30am at least seven bullets were fired into the Ferretti Cres home in Hope Island. A man and woman were inside at the time but no one was hurt.
The shots went through the front door, garage and walls of the rental home, with broken glass and bullet holes clearly visible from the street hours later.
Neighbours told the Bulletin they heard loud bangs but didn’t dare go outside to investigate.
The address is known to police and was the target of a raid last month.
A Gold Coast detective said police were hunting two suspects seen leaving the scene on a black motorcycle.
The officer said he was unable to discuss the details of the case for “operational reasons”.
“A Hope Island house was the target of a drive-by shooting offence. At this stage police are looking to identify two suspects who were seen arriving and leaving on a motorbike,” he said.
The officer denied the attack was linked to the Bandido outlaw motorcycle gang and said detectives were following a number of leads.
Neighbours, who were too scared to be named, said the couple had moved into the home in June and had visitors at all hours.
A local mum said she had noticed police at the house about four weeks ago.
“You don’t see anything or hear anything here ... except a few weeks ago that same house was raided,” she said.
“I heard the police bang on the door and yell out they had a warrant ... they were there for hours.”
Another neighbour said the area was full of young families and elderly residents.
“It doesn’t surprise me that nobody went out to check what the noise was; people don’t want to get involved,” he said.
LNP political candidate for the Broadwater electorate, David Crisafulli, said locals were worried and with good reason. The former minister lives in the area and said his campaigning had revealed crime was a No.1 concern for locals.
“If we continue to implement weak-on-crime policies and under-resource our police we will return to a society where everyday people living on the Coast will get caught up in turf wars,” he said.
Police have released grainy CCTV images of two men on a motorbike and are appealing for anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.