Shot woman shows up at Manuka Oval ahead of Aus v Pakistan
Police have arrested a man after a woman with gunshot wounds approached security this morning at a Canberra cricket oval where Australia is scheduled to play an international T20 match tonight.
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Canberra police have arrested a man and seized the gun believed to have been used in an early morning shooting in the leafy Canberra suburb of Forrest, in which a woman was left wounded.
The victim fled Dominion Cct, where she suffered shrapnel and bullet wounds, to the nearby Manuka Oval, where a security guard working at the sports ground called an ambulance and gave her first aid.
The oval is where Australia is due to play Pakistan tonight in a T20 clash.
The man’s silver-blue hatchback was spotted in the southern suburb of Weston Creek late on Tuesday morning.
Police seized the car and a gun, and took the man into custody where he is “assisting police with their inquiries”.
Officer in charge of Woden Police station, detective acting Station Sergeant Simon Coady said help from the public played a key role in arresting the man within three hours of the shooting.
“I would also like to thank the public for their assistance and willingness in providing valuable and timely information that will help with the ongoing investigation,” he said.
On Tuesday morning, the woman was in a serious but stable condition.
Teams of police spent the morning scouring the oval carpark and Dominion Cct for evidence.
ACT police Superintendent Steve Turnbull said: “A woman parked her car in Dominion Cct and a man got out of his car with a firearm.
“The man fled in a silver-blue two door hatch with a NSW registration plate on the front and no registration plate on the back.
“Do not, under any circumstances, approach the vehicle.”
Supt Turnbull said there was no threat to public safety ahead of Tuesday’s night’s match.
Supt Turnbull said police could not yet release details of the weapon they believed was used in the shooting, nor the age of the victim.
It was also unclear on Tuesday morning whether the shooting was an attempted carjacking or an attempted murder and Supt Turnbull would not say whether the victim was dropping a child at the nearby Telopea Park School.
“It’s a very random act and unexpected … it’s very much out of the ordinary,” he said.
“Even though it’s not the norm, we are treating it very seriously.”
The East Gate was open throughout the incident and the West Gate, where the women presented, is in the process of being opened again, too, Cricket Australia said.
Both ACT Police and Cricket Australia said the game will go ahead as scheduled, and police forensic experts are expected to be finished scouring the oval carpark by Tuesday afternoon.
Teams and staff were not due to arrive at the oval until later this afternoon and so were unaffected.
The match is due to start at 7.10pm.
The incident that occurred this morning was not correlated to the ground or tonight’s game and it will be functioning as normal from now through until the match with no disruption to players, staff or fans attending the match, Cricket Australia said in a statement.
“We’re aware of an ongoing police matter in the area. All Cricket Australia staff are safe and accounted for. We don’t anticipate a change to the start time tonight. Given this is an ongoing matter that’s all we can say for now,” the statement said.