20 years: The day Mackay turned into a bikie battlefield
ON THIS day, 20 years ago, the Mackay community was left shaken when two bikie gangs exchanged gunfire right in the city heart.
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ON THIS day, 20 years ago, the Mackay community was left shaken when two bikie gangs exchanged gunfire right in the city heart.
No one was convicted over the shootings, and to this day leading Queensland detectives say it has been the most difficult and frustrating investigation they had ever conducted.
It all started on August 31, 1997.
Crowds were gathered at the junior rugby league grounds for a game and the harbour was busy with families enjoying a quiet Sunday.
But the silence right across the city was disturbed when tensions between two bikie groups - the Odin's Warriors and the Outlaws - reached boiling point and the city went into lockdown.
Retired Detective Senior Sergeant Dennis Hansen, who was one of the senior investigators at the time, said the incident was a "dispute over the drug territory".
According to investigators at the time, a confrontation had been brewing for weeks and on that Sunday a gang of Odin's Warriors rode past the Outlaws' clubhouse, known as the 'Round House' in convoy, and stopped at a nearby hotel.
Soon after a truck was driven from the Round House, straight across Barnes Creek Rd and ploughed into the Odin's Warriors members.
That's when the gunfight started, Mr Hansen said.
The investigations that followed highlighted the ferocity of the brawl. Bullet shells were scattered everywhere right along Barnes Creek Rd, in through businesses and nearby houses.
As many as 40 shots were fired from four different styles of weapons, including a .22 rifle, a shotgun, a semi-automatic weapon and calibre gun, a witness to the incident told the Daily Mercury at the time.
A bikie was blown off his Harley Davidson by a close-range gunshot blast as he rode along, the witness said.
At the time, Mr Hansen was at the football match when a uniformed police officer said there had been a shooting and were told to get every available police officer back on duty.
Officers were called in for overtime and every available detective in the district including officers from Moranbah and the Whitsundays were involved.
Police cordoned off Barnes Creek Rd and closed the Forgan Bridge.
"We tried to coordinate our side of things, the public response group had been alerted in Brisbane and they were on their way up," Mr Hansen recalled.
"The main consideration was for people who lived in the Cremorne area, when bullets were flying around, to make sure everyone was evacuated or made safe.
"It proved very difficult with the round house situated where it was and the other outlaw motorcycle gangs pouring fire into the roundhouse."
Wounded bikies were helped and sheltered by nearby residents and a negotiator managed to get paramedics on to the scene to treat them.
Additional emergency teams were flown in from Cairns and Brisbane and, after the area had been sealed off, negotiations to end the battle went on for several hours.
An uneasy peace was agreed on late Sunday evening, after the initial police response about 3pm.
The six people shot were taken to Mackay Base Hospital with two later transferred to Townsville.
Both Mr Hansen, and then Central Queensland crime coordinator Detective Inspector Russell Janke, who was brought up from Rockhampton, said the subsequent investigation into the incident was extremely frustrating.
All 53 bikies, made up of 11 Odin's Warriors and 42 Outlaw members, adopted a 'code of silence'.
"We are getting no co-operation from anyone," Det Insp Janke said at the time. "No one is talking."
Some refused to give their occupations to police and only five gave an address for Mackay - the rest were from Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales and other places throughout Queensland.
The code of silence meant investigators struggled to piece together exactly what happened and charging anyone was almost impossible, let alone produce the evidence to prosecute them in court.
They were all charged with causing an affray, which meant they created a disturbance which was likely to endanger members of the public.
Mr Hansen said no bikie wanted to make a complaint against each other.
"I personally went out to the hospital and spoke to the man who had lost an eye," he recalled.
"He was stood over on Barnes Creek Rd and shot.
"He more or less told me exactly where to go and that he would sort the matter out himself.
"They don't want to talk, and they will fix it."
Another issue for police was the lengthy negotiation that could have allowed suspects to discard evidence, saying it was was detrimental to the investigation as it turned out. "During that time, every weapon that was in that house was wiped clear of fingerprints," Mr Hansen said.
"Every weapon was discarded and chucked out onto the roof of Hodges Machinery or into the yard next door to the round house.
"Every single individual had scrubbed up and got rid of any firearm residue that might have been on their forearms or hands when they fired rifles.
"We lost all that evidence in that long wait."
Mr Hansen said he understood the main priority was of the safety of the police and the public, but said the delay was the main cause for losing a lot of evidence that could have been critical.
"I would have liked to see the police go into that house much quicker," he said.
"As I say, I wasn't in charge of the public response group, they have their priorities and their safety measures to look after as well.
"As it was no police were injured and no ambulance bearers were injured, it was just bikie on bikie.
"Probably, if the police had gone in quicker it might have been a different story, with sadder consequences for police officers."
Despite 53 people being arrested and charged with causing an affray, no one was found guilty in the ensuing court case.
"It was an unsatisfactory finish. There was a lot of frustration for us, as police, trying to gather evidence in view of everything that went on," Mr Hansen said.
'There was bikie blood everywhere'
EVELYN and Toby Collins were watching TV less than 100 metres from the round house on August 31, 1997 when all hell broke loose.
They still both remember the Sunday that turned their backyard into a battleground, 20 years on.
After being shot, bikies ran to cover in their home on Palm St, which sits opposite the round house.
"They just barged in and fell on the bed," Mrs Collins recalled.
One man had been shot in the arm.
He was bleeding everywhere and took refuge on a mattress that later had to be thrown out.
Mrs Collins wrapped the man's arm in a bandage and waited for the ambulance to come and retrieve him.
About two months later the man came and thanked them for their hospitality, they said.
Officer recognised
A POLICE officer who put himself in harm's way by rushing to the aid of an injured bikie told the Mercury yesterday he was extremely proud of his actions on that day that saw him awarded a Medal of Valour. Stuart Allan, a duty officer constable, had an hour left on shift on the day of the shoot-out.
He and his partner were on Gordon St conducting roadside breath tests when they were notified of a disturbance on the bridge.
The pair of officers was first on the scene, soon after joined by paramedics.
Together, they ran to the aid of a bikie who had been shot in the head.
"I ran out to the man who had been shot behind the ear and gave assistance to him, I held a a bandage to his gunshot wound," Mr Allan recalled. He then negotiated with the bikies to get paramedics access without fear of being shot.
Mr Allan continued to treat the injured and even approached the front gate of the round house, which was taking heavy fire, to escort an injured man to an ambulance.
It was surreal being in the middle of a gun fight, he said.
"Time sometimes went fast, time sometimes went slow. I was mainly concerned with helping the injured, and I became engrossed in that," Mr Allan recalled.
Wearing only a bulletproof vest, with bullets flying past him, at one point Mr Allan heard that the bikies would shoot any police in sight.
In 2002, he was awarded the Medal of Valour by Queensland Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson for performing duty in an extremely dangerous situation.
The citation detailed the "exceptional bravery" shown by Mr Allan, who decided to assist the injured, despite seeing gang members armed and shooting at the house.
"Despite the significant risk to himself Const Allan demonstrated courage in ensuring the safety of ambulance officers as they attended to the injured," the citation read.
Mr Allan said it was a big day, after being on the job for more than 24 hours, and one he would never forget.
Originally published as 20 years: The day Mackay turned into a bikie battlefield
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