Police investigating after shot fired through window of home on McNamara Road at Alton Downs

Police have declared a crime scene at a property on Rockhampton’s outskirts after a shot was fired into a house, passing over the head of a young boy sitting down at the kitchen table. Full details here.

Just as a young boy sat down at the kitchen table of his family home in Alton Downs on Thursday evening, a bullet flew over his head and lodged in the wall behind him.

It is an incident that has shaken Central Queensland mum Andrea Thomas to her core and one she says ‘could have been fatal’.

Police on Thursday night declared a crime scene at the McNamara Road home Mrs Thomas and her family have lived in for the past 21 years, after the frightening shooting incident.

Alton Downs resident Andrea Thomas.

Mrs Thomas said it was about 8pm when she noticed a man on a red quad motorbike lurking outside her rural property.

“There was a motorbike sitting on the corner when I went downstairs, it sat there for about 10 minutes and then went about halfway down McNamara Road,” Mrs Thomas said.

“Then it came up and sat at our place just on an angle 50 metres out for about three or four minutes, and then shot at our house which landed in our dining room area.

“My son, as he shot, was just about to sit down to eat something at the kitchen table. As he sat down, it’s gone over his head.”

Mrs Thomas said she initially thought the motorbike had backfired, and ran out to tell the rider to ‘rack off’.

“I was sitting underneath the house and basically ‘done a Karen’ thinking it (the motorbike) backfired, because it was very loud,” she said.

“I thought it backfired and I’m out there telling him to rack off, go away. We often have people stop there to use their phones and I thought he was doing the same thing.

“So we chased him to the other corner, which is Sheehan Road, and he basically shot again but to me it sounded like it went up to my neighbours place, and then he took off.”

Mrs Thomas's home on McNamara Road. The bullet was fired through the first window panel from the left on the right-hand side of the house.

Mrs Thomas said it wasn’t until she was on the phone to police that the gravity of the situation hit her.

“I dialled triple-0 there and then and then I had to go upstairs because the woman couldn’t really hear me because I was in my paddock,” she said.

“When I got upstairs and saw the bullet hole in the window, that’s when I realised, it was a gunshot, not a backfire of a motorbike.

“When my son told me he had just sat down to eat his food, that’s when I realised...

“There’s quad riding around here all the time, and I just assumed that’s what was happening. He was hanging around the place for 20 minutes getting the courage to do it and I don’t know why.

“I was at home downstairs, my partner was upstairs in the kitchen washing up - good man - and my son was just coming out of the toilet as it happen.

“It shook my insides, that’s how big of a bang that was.”

The window that the bullet penetrated.

Mrs Thomas said she had lived in the home for more than 20 years and had no enemies, so wanted to warn others in the area to watch out for the red motorbike.

“I want people to look out for it. He had a green shirt on, and a cap my son said, and he’s a pretty big boy. I don’t know what age he is but he was pretty solid,” she said.

“It would have been around 8-8.30 when it happened, when he was stalking the house. It was a .22

“My wall looks very... the police had to do some artwork to get the bullet out. They got the shell off McNamara Road and the bullet out of the wall, which fell down. They didn’t find one on Sheehan Road.”

Queensland Police Service confirmed Rockhampton police were investigating the unlawful discharge of a firearm in McNamara Road, Alton Downs, about 8.30pm Thursday.

No one was injured in the incident. Anyone with information or footage is asked to contact police.