Thor Morgan murder investigation: Detectives charge Cambooya man as police divers locate suspected murder weapon

Police have charged a man over the shooting death of a 25-year-old man on a Toowoomba street in the dead of night. Watch the moment police took him into custody.

After months of investigations Toowoomba CIB and Homicide Unit detectives have charged a 24-year-old Cambooya man Lachlan Mark Freund for the alleged murder of 25-year-old Thor Morgan.

It is understood investigators have located the weapon they allege was used to shoot the 25-year-old Toowoomba man as he left his girlfriend’s Harlaxton home in the early hours of March 15.

As part of a major investigation into the shooting of Mr Morgan police dive squad officers recovered a firearm from a northern branch of the Condamine River on July 26, which police allege was the murder weapon.

The Cambooya man fronted the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Monday, charged with one count each of murder, arson of a motor vehicle, unlawful use of a motor vehicle and unlawful possession of weapons.

He was remanded in custody to appear in Toowoomba Magistrates Court on September 6 and is yet to enter a plea.

Officers believe Mr Morgan was tracked by at least two people from his girlfriend’s house in Coonan St and ambushed near Downlands College on Ruthven Street.

Darling Downs Detective Inspector Heath McQueen said police will allege Mr Freund fired the rifle while a second man drove a dual-cab white Ford Ranger, one of which hit Mr Morgan in the head.

Despite the wound, he walked back to his girlfriend’s where an ambulance was called and he was taken to the Toowoomba Hospital.

Mr Morgan was transferred to Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra Hospital, but surgeons were unable to remove the bullet and Mr Morgan died from the injury on May 16.

Police located a Ford Ranger burnt out in Felton the day after Mr Morgan was shot.

It was bearing the distinctive false number plates of SCUM and had been stolen from a Wilsonton address on March 13.

Insp McQueen urged the driver and anyone else who was in the vehicle to come forward now and give their version of events to police.

“Today’s result is after an extensive five-month investigation involving both detectives from both the Homicide Investigation Unit and the Toowoomba Criminal Investigation Branch as well as our forensic officer, our intel analyst and our police diver who located a firearm that we will allege was used to commit this murder,” he said.

“We believe there was at least one other person in that motor vehicle with the 24-year-old male who has been charged with murder today and that person has assisted that offender with destroying evidence and attempting to cover up this offence.

“Now is the time for any person who may have information, or may have knowledge, or may have been involved in the commission of the offence to come forward and give your version of events to detectives.”

About a week after the shooting police charged three people with the alleged theft and use of the vehicle prior to the shooting.

A 17-year-old boy was charged with unlawful use of a motor vehicle, and has faced Toowoomba Childrens Court.

Two Newtown men, a 19-year-old and 22-year-old, were charged with unlawful use of a motor vehicle and driving without a licence, and both have faced Toowoomba Magistrates Court.

Toowoomba Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB) and Homicide Investigation Unit detectives have released images of a Mitsubishi ASX SUV that was torched in Felton and maybe connected with Thor Morgan’s death.

At the time Toowoomba CIB officer-in-charge Paul McCusker said a stolen Mitsubishi ASX SUV was torched on Tyson Road in Felton on March 2 and he suspected one of the people involved in that incident was also involved in Mr Morgan’s death.

“What we do believe is that a person involved in (the arson) was also involved in discharging a firearm at that spot, discharging a number of shots across this road,” he said.“ We believe that firearm is linked to the shooting death of Mr Morgan.”

Sgt McCusker urged anyone who witnessed suspicious activity near the intersection of Tyson Road and Toowoomba Karara Road on March 2 to come forward.

“Someone from the public may have come past, saw people on this road or given a lift to someone,” he said.

Originally published as Thor Morgan murder investigation: Detectives charge Cambooya man as police divers locate suspected murder weapon