Ex-SA bikie Shane Bowden found shot dead in execution-style killing on Gold Coast, sparking bikie war fears
Former SA bikie Shane Bowden, who shot a gang rival during the infamous “Ballroom Blitz” brawl, has been gunned down in an execution-style killing on the Gold Coast. Police sources say this is the start of a war between two bikie gangs.
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Senior police sources say the slaying of Shane Bowden – a former SA Finks bikie – could spark the return of gangland warfare to the Glitter Strip, saying Mongols and Finks Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs had been preparing for a showdown for months.
“Expect more bodies on the street,” one source said.
Bowden, a notorious bikie who breached COVID restrictions when he travelled to Queensland from Victoria, has been shot dead in an execution-style killing on the Gold Coast overnight.
Police believe his execution was carried out by locals linked to the Mongols outlaw motorcycle gang rather than a hit squad sent in from interstate.
Bowden survived a drive-by shooting in Melbourne earlier this year, just days after he was released from prison.
He was recently booted out of the Mongols and was believed to have rejoined the Finks.
Bowden was a former Finks member in Adelaide and was one of the main players in the infamous “Ballroom Blitz” brawl on the Gold Coast in 2006.
Police were called to a Cox Rd home in Pimpama on the northern Gold Coast about 12.10am where they found Bowden dead.
A short time later, a burnt-out vehicle was discovered nearby in Mirambeena Drive.
Crime scenes have been declared in both locations.
The site of the shooting, in the Warwick Terraces complex, is being heavily guarded by police, with forensic officers scouring the exterior of the unit.
Earlier, a man visited the scene appeared agitated. He was speaking on the phone and later police. As he left in a van he gestured the middle finger towards the waiting media.
A woman also was seen crying on the side of the road and being comforted by police.
Neighbour Rhys Wendtmann said he heard “really loud” bangs overnight.
“Me and my wife just looked at each other (and thought) it was probably just the train line, or kids or something and then we heard cars.
“We went back to sleep and I woke up to the bang, bang bang of police. I thought the whole thing was a dream.”
Wendtmann said he had spoken to Bowden, who had only just recently moved in, a few times.
“He was nice,” he said.
Resident Aidan McAllister said he was sitting on the couch and heard several shots – which sounded far away so he thought nothing of it.
“Turns out it’s a couple of doors down,” he said.
“It’s a bit of a rude awakening in your own street to hear something like that. I’ve done a little bit of research online so I do know that he was a bikie but it’s still an incredibly shocking thing and I feel sorry for his family members.
He said there was cameras throughout the unit complex.
Mr McAllister said the shots were fired in quick succession.
Detective Superintendent Brendan Smith said Bowden’s partner and two small children were at home when he was murdered in his driveway.
“It clearly seems he has been ambushed,” Det Supt Smith said.
“At this point we believe the victim came home from the gym and has driven into his driveway, the assailants have run in and shot him multiple times and consequently now he is deceased.”
“He’s basically driven into his driveway, hasn’t gotten out of his car and has been executed.”
The detective confirmed it was bikie related and said it is a matter that is within one club, rather than one club against another.
“It is important that people understand that these gangs are criminals, they don’t take fluffy toys to hospital, they are criminal gangs who survive on retribution, violence and threats and if anyone thinks anything otherwise they’re an idiot.”
“(The family) are obviously upset, it’s not something you expect to happen in your home, but dare I say and nobody deserves to die in this manner, but you live by the sword, you die by the sword.”
Police are searching for two men, a man in a dark clothing and a man in light clothing.
The attack was believed to be from either The Mongols or The Finks bikie gangs.
Bowden was once part of the Finks “terror team” and was sentenced to six-and-a-half years’ jail for shooting Christpher Wayne Hudson, who defected from the Finks to the Hells Angels, in front of 1800 people at a kickboxing tournament.
Bowden travelled with other Finks members to Queensland as part of a national manhunt for Hudson, which culminated in a massive brawl later dubbed the “Ballroom Blitz”.
The Finks were dispatched from Adelaide with the instructions to remove a full-size tattoo of the club’s colours from Hudson’s back with acid and paint scrapers.
Just weeks after departing prison in a flashy exit in June this year, Bowden was attacked in a drive-by shooting at Epping.
Bowden made headlines last month when he was charged by police on the Gold Coast for alleged COVID-19 breaches.
He was charged with giving false and misleading documents under the Public Health Act, with police alleging he lied on his border declaration pass.
Bowden told The Courier-Mail he had come to Queensland – his home state – to recover from a badly infected gunshot wound to his leg.
Bowden said he had been diagnosed with coronavirus while in hospital in Melbourne awaiting surgery.
The Queensland Government initially said he boarded the plane with COVID-19 but later acknowledged he was not contagious.
“When I boarded the plane, I was not COVID positive,” he said.
“I had been given the all clear.
“I didn’t put anyone at risk.
“The government have targeted me because of my past jail time and being OMCG.”