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By HARRY CLARKE
BARELY a month on from an horrific shooting which killed two police officers and a Good Samaritan neighbour at a property north of Tara, three local teenagers caused the lockdown of several neighbourhood blocks in the town when, for reasons still unknown, they allegedly began firing at parked cars with reckless abandon yesterday afternoon.
Two 16-year-old boys have been each been charged with four firearms offences and three counts of wilful damage over the frightening ordeal, which began about 3.30pm and ended with their arrest seven hours later.
A 14-year-old boy, one of the 16-year-olds’ brothers, was “cautioned” over the same offences while a 15-year-old boy was released without charge, Acting Inspector Ray Vine told a press conference outside Tara Police Station this morning.
Up to 30 police responded to the initial reports of shots being fired from a home on Day St.
An exclusion zone was cordoned off encompassing Surat Development Rd, Day St, Benn St, Fry Street and Milne St – a significant portion of the small town’s eastern side.
Act. Supt. Vine said by the time police arrived two parked cars had been fired upon, while a third was shot at as a member of the public parked at the edge of the exclusion zone and exited his vehicle.
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“There were several discharged (.22 calibre) cartridges at the crime scene and we’ve got at least four holes to vehicles through windscreens and there’s also some ricochet.. so we believe there was at least eight or nine shots,” he said.
“It’s really on the extreme level. We’ve had alleged discharge of firearms at a property in the vicinity of people. Police were clearly visible in doing their response to that and they continued to discharge rounds.
“It’s absolutely reckless, unacceptable and unforgivable behaviour that could have had catastrophic consequences.”
No one was injured during the ordeal, but alarmed residents in the area had to be evacuated as police went door to door clearing homes and working to establish who was behind the shooting.
The Caller heard police negotiating via megaphone with people inside a home on Day St as bystanders were called away from the scene with their hands in ther air or behind their heads.
“They (the alleged offenders) weren’t taken into custody at that address, they were taken into custody at a particular place outside the cordon.
“There’s no suggestion that they were actively targeting police.
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“They were located at a point outside of the cordon and they were taken into custody without incident.
“The fact that three vehicles have been struck might suggest that they were deliberately shooting at those vehicles.”
The two 16-year-old boys will face the Dalby Children’s Court while the 14-year-old is being “dealt with under the Youth Justice Act,” he said.
The shooting comes five weeks after the December 12 shooting north of town at an isolated property in Wieambilla, where two young police constables from Tara, Rachel McCrow and Matthew Arnold, as well as neighbour Alan Dare, where executed by three radicalised conspiracy theorists in an ambush which sent shockwaves around Australia.
Act. Supt. Vine said some of the officers involved in the Wieambilla incident were among those who responded to yesterday’s incident.
“The conduct is extremely concerning and … we’ll be attempting to identify motive. Two of the alleged offenders have declined to be interviewed so in terms of the actual motivation at this stage it’s still unclear,” he said.
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“There certainly were some officers involved in the Wieambilla shooting that were involved in the response to this incident last night. We’re providing them with support and welfare and counselling if they need it.
“Their heroics and their resolve to protect the community and maintain community safety given the events of five and a half weeks ago is remarkable.”
