Police hunt Mongols over execution of Shane Bowden
Police are knocking on doors of known bikies across the Gold Coast in a bid to crack the murder of notorious Finks-turned-Mongols bikie Shane Bowden, who was gunned down outside his home on Monday.
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Police are doorknocking bikies across the Gold Coast in a bid to unlock the execution-style murder of notorious Mongol-turned Fink Shane Bowden.
Bowden was shot dead in the early hours of Monday morning at his rented Pimpama home, just weeks after surviving a drive-by shooting in Melbourne following his release from jail.
Bowden, a former Finks ‘terror team’ enforcer who joined the Mongols in 2013, was booted out of the gang shortly after his release from jail and was believed to be actively recruiting members for the Finks in the weeks leading up to his death.
Detectives have spent the past 24 hours doorknocking homes of bikies linked to both the Mongols and the Finks as they continue investigations in to the chilling murder.
They have also gathered intelligence from Victoria’s elite anti-bikie unit, Taskforce Echo.
Police believe Mongols gangsters were behind the shooting.
The former Mongols enforcer was hit with a barrage of bullets at point blank range in a late-night ambush as he returned from a gym session to the Pimpama home he had shared with his partner and her two children since fleeing Melbourne when he was wounded in a drive-by shooting and booted out of the gang in July.
Bikie-busting cops on border and hotel COVID patrol as gang member Shane Bowden flew into Gold Coast
Shane Bowden shot dead in Pimpama: Mongols and Finks bikies ‘preparing for showdown’
Shane Bowden’s former partner says executed bikie ‘had a very good heart’
Bowden, who shot bitter rival Christopher Hudson during the infamous Ballroom Blitz bikie rampage on the Gold Coast nearly 15 years ago, was killed just weeks after emerging from quarantine following his arrest for lying to authorities after leaving Melbourne at the height of the city’s coronavirus pandemic in August to recuperate from his bullet wounds.
It is understood Bowden, a Finks ‘terror team’ member before the group patched over to the Mongols en masse during Campbell Newman’s ‘War on Bikies’, was trying to recruit members to his old gang, but police do not believe his death will trigger a new gangland war.
Finks members who ‘patched over’ to the Mongols in 2013 were given the blessing of the gang’s elder statesmen and relations between the two groups were considered cordial.
Instead, police believe Bowden was deliberately targeted over his bitter falling-out with the Mongols in Melbourne and have gathered intelligence from Victoria’s crack anti-bike police squad, Taskforce Echo.
Police sources told The Courier-Mail that Bowden had fallen foul of the Mongols in Melbourne after he started moving with members of the Comancheros, one of the gang’s fiercest rivals.
He served almost five years behind bars for a violent robbery and had been out of jail barely a month when he was shot and expelled from the Mongols.
He did not co-operate with Victorian authorities and that shooting remains an active investigation.
Police believe at least two men lay in wait for Bowden on Sunday night outside his Lachlan Street home, shooting him repeatedly as he sat in the driver’s seat of a luxury BMW.
Two burnt-out cars were found abandoned at nearby Ormeau and Beenleigh.
Detective Superintendent Brendan Smith, the South Eastern Regional crime co-ordinator, said Bowden’s ‘interesting’ background appeared to have caught up with him.
How bikie Shane Bowden’s life of crime ended in a hail of bullets
Mongol bikie Shane Bowden wounded in drive-by shooting, days after flashy prison exit
Mongols bikie Shane Bowden leaves jail in stretch limousine with an entourage
“It’s a matter that would appear to be within the one club as opposed to one club against another.......because it’s clearly something to do with his background with what’s happened in the last few weeks and months,” he said.
“It’s important that people understand that these gangs are criminals … that survive on retribution, violence and threats and if anyone thinks anything otherwise they’re an idiot.
“Nobody deserves to die in this manner but, you live by the sword, you die by the sword.”
Bowden’s former partner Trudi McPhee, who has a 14-year-old son with the slain bikie, said she was devastated at the loss of the man who was “the love of my life” and warned that ‘a hurricane is coming’ in response.
“He might have had some issues but deep down at the end of the day, he had a very good heart,” she said.
“He always put other people first. He did jail time for other people that he should never have done jail time for. But he did it because he didn’t want to speak and dob anyone in.
“I just can’t believe it. I never ever thought that this day would ever get here. He was the love of my life.”
Adopted as a child, he became a champion youth cyclist with dreams of Olympic glory before being cruelled by injuries.
He then turned to bodybuilding at the gym where he met bikies.
“He lived for the biker life,” Ms McPhee said.
“All I know is that these biker wars need to stop.”
Bowden spoke to The Courier-Mail after authorities wrongly claimed he’d flown from Melbourne to Brisbane while infected with coronavirus.
He said Ms McPhee “has meant so much to me over so many years … she is what keeps me grounded”.
“I know she will always be a part of me because of my son but this time I blew any chance I had with her again,” Bowden said.
Bowden’s teenage son yesterday spoke of his heartbreak.
“You weren’t meant to leave, love you always,” he wrote on social media.
“Mum is heartbroken. I promise I will be by her side always. RIP.”
Two men were seen in the area of the fatal shooting on nearby CCTV cameras, one in dark clothing and the other wearing lighter clothes, but police have not ruled out the possibility others were also involved.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
LIFE AND CRIMES OF SHANE BOWDEN
2006 Bowden, then a Fink, involved in the notorious “Ballroom Blitz” at the Royal Pines on the Gold Coast. Bowden shot Fink-turned-Hells Angel Christopher Wayne Hudson in the face and was jailed for seven years.
2013 Finks involved in nationwide “patch over” to Mongols gang. Bowden raided by Victoria police after moving from Queensland.
2015 Bowden arrested over aggravated burglary in South Yarra with co-accused fitness model Janet “Aysen” Campbell. He was jailed for three years and nine months.
June 2020 Bowden released from jail, picked up in a limousine and greeted by Mongols.
July 2020 Bowden shot in his Epping driveway and kicked out of Mongols.
August 2020 Bowden arrives in Queensland with authorities originally believing he was COVID-19-positive.
September 2020 Charged by police for COVID-19 breaches for lying on declaration form.
October 2020 Bowden killed in his car at his Pimpama home after returning home from the gym.
– additional reporting by Elise Williams