Drive- by pellet gun attack on homeless
HOMELESS people at a Townsville park have been the victims of a drive- by shooting involving replica guns that shoot gel pellets.
About 9pm on Monday a group of indigenous people were attacked without warning when shots were fired at them from a passing car.
Samuel Clay, 58, told the Townsville Bulletin he was lying down at the park when the shooting started, taking the group by surprise and wounding several people.
“There was a white sedan that pulled up and these rednecks just started shooting,” Mr Clay said.
“The police came and grabbed them pretty quickly. This sort of thing has happened before.
“Of course they are rednecks to just come here and start shooting.”
Townsville Eastern Patrol Group’s Inspector Glenn Doyle condemned the attack.
“The victims are members of the more vulnerable parts of the community,” Insp Doyle said. “I think they were in the wrong place at the wrong time and were victims of a callous assault.”
Police patrolling nearby were quick to respond to the incident.
Officers were informed of the attack by members of the group at the park and swiftly stopped a car nearby.
“A search was done by the police and the weapons were located and the identity of of- fenders was then obtained,” Insp Doyle said. He said the weapons seized were rifle gel blasters, a weapon comparable to a scaled- down version of a paintball gun.
He said they had the potential to cause injury, including bruising, and could cause more serious damage if a pellet struck someone in the eye.
“It is not illegal to possess ( the firearms) but the behaviour that these people undertook with the weapons is certainly an offence and a serious offence at that,” Insp Doyle said.
“It’s picking on vulnerable members of the community.”
No one had been charged with an offence relating to the incident as of yesterday afternoon but Insp Doyle said that was expected to change.
Three men, a 21- year- old, 24- year- old and 28- year- old, all from Townsville, were expected to be charged.
Insp Doyle said there were offences under the Queensland Criminal Code relating to firing of these type of weapons which held a maximum penalty of 10 years’ jail.