NSW:Three charged for gem store robbery

AAP General News (Australia)
08-13-2010
VIC:Two killed in pokies bar shooting

By Melissa Jenkins and Edwina Scott

MELBOURNE, Aug 13 AAP - Two men have been killed and a third is believed to have fled
from a gunman who shot up a pokies bar in inner Melbourne.

After killing one man with several shots at Players on Lygon on a busy Friday afternoon
in Carlton, the man then gave chase after another man, according to a witness.

The witness says the gunman chased the man across Lygon Street and through a park before
giving up and returning to the bar to kill the second man.

Police believe the victims are in their 60s or 70s.

One man, believed to be in his 50s, was arrested in the gaming venue and was compliantly
taken into custody by police.

Both men were shot outside Players, police say, but one fell through the bar's doorway
where his body remained slumped several hours after being killed.

The other victim lay in a pool of blood on the footpath, under the roadside umbrellas
in Melbourne's vibrant cafe and eating street.

"He shot someone in Players then he chased a second guy across this park," said witness
Travis Eldridge, who works as an accountant on the level above the bar.

"The guy got away, so then the shooter went back to Players and shot the other guy."

Mr Eldridge, 24, said the gunman, who was balding and dressed in black, fired two or
three shots each time.

He said the shooting unfolded in five to 10 minutes about 4.45pm (AEST).

The double murder came six hours after crime family patriarch Macchour Chaouk was gunned
down at his home at Brooklyn in Melbourne's west.

But Detective Sergeant Wayne Woltsche said it doesn't appear the Carlton double murder
is connected with the Chaouk shooting.

"At this stage we have no link to that shooting," he told reporters in Lygon Street.

A man was arrested over the Chaouk killing shortly after the shootings in Carlton.

Det Sgt Woltsche refused to speculate on any underworld links to the shooting.

"We haven't got to the reasonings behind this shooting tonight and I'm certainly not
going to be drawn on any underworld shooting or anything like that," he said.

Det Sgt Woltsche said it was still unclear what had happened and police had no indication
of a motive.

"What took place is still in dispute," he said.

He would not confirm whether the shooting was a professional hit.

"It's a fairly callous crime - whether it's an execution I can't say."

Early indications suggest the shootings have been captured on CCTV by the gaming venue,
Det Sgt Woltsche said.

He said there were more than 30 people in the bar at the time and police will be speaking
to witnesses throughout the night.

But he refused to confirm whether the incident was a targeted attack.

"The only assurance I can give at this stage is that we have a person in custody as
a suspect for this shooting," he said.

"Obviously it's outrageous it takes place on Lygon Street, Melbourne."

Players on Lygon, between Pelham Street and Argyle Place, is in the heart of Lygon
Street, which was also the seat of many of the major players in Melbourne's vicious gangland
war of the 1990s and 2000s, which claimed at least 27 lives.

AAP ees/pmu/apm

KEYWORD: SHOOTING VIC WRAP (PIX AVAILABLE)

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