Man charged with murder after Mackay woman shot dead in car
Police have praised the bravery of two young girls who fled a vehicle where a woman was shot to raise the alarm. It comes as a bizarre detail of the alleged killer’s past is revealed.
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Police say they are still trying to determine why a gunman allegedly fatally shot his next door neighbour in the head in front of two young children before turning the gun on another neighbour who came to her aid.
It comes as a bizarre detail about the alleged murderer’s past comes to light - the man escaping death at the age of 15 after being bitten by a deadly snake.
Ryan Geoffrey Cole, 31, appeared via video-link in the Mackay Magistrates Court charged with the murder and attempted murder of two of his neighbours in a shooting attack that shut down part of the suburb and sparked a frantic manhunt.
Police allege Cole walked up to his neighbour Natalie Jane Frahm, 34, at 4.30pm Wednesday as she sat in her car in the driveway of her Robb Pl home and fatally shot her.
Two girls who were in the car managed to run and get help from a neighbour who approached Cole and was also shot.
The neighbour, James ‘Jimmy’ McGill, 66, was at his 89-year-old mother’s home to help her around the house.
Witnesses said Cole allegedly shot them with a “revolver style weapon”.
The alleged murderer, who previously lived in Mundubbera, was bitten by a deadly snake in 2008 when he was 15.
He said he was bitten twice on foot by a coastal taipan, which has the third most toxic venom of all land snakes, as he jumped into a swimming hole in the Burnett River.
“I’ve been attacked twice and bitten four times - that’s pretty unlucky,” he told The Courier-Mail at the time.
“But then it is really lucky to have survived. I’m really grateful to my mates that they knew what to do and did it.”
His brother Jakob and his friends dragged him from the waterhole and were later commended for their actions and received bravery awards.
In a media conference, Mackay Detective Acting Superintendent Emma Novosel told media the distressing event unfolded as Ms Frahm was about to drive the two young girls to a sporting event.
“It is not believed that the man and woman were known to each other, however, preliminary investigations indicate that they lived on the same street,” she alleged of Cole and Ms Frahm.
“There were two children in the vehicle at the time who fled and sought assistance from a neighbour at a nearby residence.
“(That resident), a 66-year-old man, approached the man and was also shot.
“He sustained non-life threatening injuries and is currently receiving treatment at the Mackay Base Hospital.
“Certainly at this stage the motives behind the attack on this woman and man are unknown.
“There will be further investigations that are obviously undertaken to try and determine what has brought about this incident.”
A spokeswoman for Mackay Base Hospital said Mr McGill was in a stable condition on Thursday afternoon.
A Queensland Ambulance Service spokesperson said paramedics arrived at 4.36pm where the woman had sustained life-threatening head and chest wounds and was declared deceased on the scene.
The spokesperson said the second patient, a man, had suffered wounds to his chest and hand and was taken by Critical Care Paramedics to Mackay Hospital.
Cole is alleged to have fled Robb Pl in a silver Mitsubishi Triton, resulting in police making an emergency declaration under the Public Safety Preservation Act, warning residents in an area bordered by Robb Pl, Paradise St, Archibald St, Kindemar St and Denton St to stay in their homes.
The Mitsubishi Triton was tracked to a BP service station on the corner of the Bruce Hwy and Statham Dr, Paget at 7.45pm where Cole was taken into custody without incident.
Mechanic Tyler Camilleri described the moment police swarmed on the BP, with officers shouting “Put the gun down, you’re under arrest”.
“I heard the brakes of one of the cop cars go off and I thought that’s a bit weird so I turned around and saw about four, five, six cop cars pull up at the same time,’’ Mr Camilleri said.
“He seemed to have put it down pretty quickly the moment he saw all the coppers.’’
Det Supt Novosel said Cole was known to police for minor matters but had not come to their attention in the weeks prior to the incident.
“It’s obviously a tragic incident where two young girls have witnessed a violent death,” she said.
“I want to acknowledge and commend their bravery for actually managing to remove themselves from such a dangerous situation and raise the alarm.’’
“It’s incredibly brave and I can’t even begin to imagine the trauma that they must be experiencing.’’
“The Queensland Homicide Victims Support Group is travelling to Mackay today to ensure there is sufficient support wrapped around that family.’’
Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said the shooting was a “horrid situation”.
“A life has been lost by a really terrible act of violence by the (alleged) offender and another person has been seriously injured,” he said.
“That person is in custody so the threat to the community is not there anymore.
“We will look really closely, not only at what occurred yesterday but the lead up to that in terms of this person, his access to weapons and how he might have got that weapon given the circumstances we know now.”
Mr Gollschewski said Cole lost his weapons licence in 2021 and 11 weapons were taken from him at the time.
“That was as a result of his conduct, the weapons were removed and the licence was revoked,” he said.
Mr Gollschewski said police would investigate how Cole allegedly accessed firearms on Wednesday.
“There is a three-year period there where at any time he could have had access to firearms so we will have to investigate,” he said.
Mr Gollschewski said there were many licensed weapons holders in Queensland and most were responsible.
He said police were seeking additional powers from the government which would allow police to place firearm prohibition orders on people.
“The reason we are seeking that is for these sort of circumstances where people who can access weapons illegally … we can have additional powers to try to prevent that,” he said.
Mr Gollschewski said police were investigating reports that Cole had access to grenades but “at this stage there is nothing to confirm that one way or another”.
He said Cole was known to police but there were no particular warnings and no history of mental health that police were aware of.
Cole appeared before Magistrate Damian Dwyer via video-link charged with murder and attempted murder.
He was remanded in custody.
Originally published as Man charged with murder after Mackay woman shot dead in car
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