‘No one knew he’d been shot’: Slain bikie’s last words as family prepares for funeral

The family of slain Rebel boss Nick Martin has opened up about preparations for his ‘big’ funeral, being livestreamed across the country.

The daughter of slain Rebel boss Nick Martin has described his funeral as his “last ride”, expected to be so big that it will need to be livestreamed across the nation to allow Australia’s underworld to farewell the bikie.

Martin, 51, was gunned down in a suspected sniper attack at the Perth Motorplex on December 12.

Police are bracing for his funeral — to be held Wednesday — to be one of the country’s biggest ever outlaw gatherings, attended by hundreds of Australia’s most notorious bikies, The West Australianreports.

Friends have described slain Rebels bikie Nick Martin as a ‘generous person’ as his family prepared for his funeral.

Many more will watch a livestream of the service from NSW and New Zealand, unable to pay their respects in person because of WA’s coronavirus restrictions.

Martin’s daughter Tia said the turnout would show how “loved” he was by his Rebels brothers.

A convoy of Rebels members will escort their former president to his final resting place at Pinnaroo cemetery.

“My dad is going for his last ride,” Tia, 22, said.

“I’ve lost a lot of people in my life and I knew one day he was going to have to go but I just didn’t expect it now.”

Like other families who have lost a loved one this year, the Martin family is grappling with how to say goodbye while complying with COVID rules.

The wake location is still to be determined.

“We are still planning because it’s going to be so big they are going to have to distance,” Tia said.

“We just have to find somewhere everyone can go. It’s a bit of a challenge.”

SLAIN BIKIE’S LAST WORDS

The wife of a slain bikie boss who was shot in the chest during a drag racing event in Perth has spoken of the moment she knew something was horribly wrong.

Amanda Martin told The West Australian she heard a sound but couldn’t be sure if it was a gunshot or a car backfiring while the pair were watching the Outlaw Nitro Challenge on Saturday night.

But she recalls feeling her husband Nick Martin’s hand graze her cheek as he collapsed to the ground before saying, “Babe, I’ve been shot.”

Ms Martin’s Rebels bikie boss husband was gunned down at the Perth Motorplex in Kwinana.

“I picked him up and I just held him up. I kept telling him just to stay with me,” Ms Martin said before explaining that she screamed for help.

“No one knew he’d been shot because … the noise, the cars … they didn’t know.”

Nick Martin was killed in front of his wife Amanda. Source: Supplied

She said bystanders thought Mr Martin had suffered a heart attack, but her hands were covered in blood.

“I was kissing him and I was trying to give him CPR, but he never opened his eyes again, he was already gone,” she said.

Police have since raided several properties across the West Australian capital following the possible sniper attack amid fears it could spark an all-out bikie war.

The 51-year-old was shot in the chest about 8.40pm in front of horrified innocent bystanders, including young families.

A five-year-old boy, who was reportedly sitting on Ms Martin’s lap but is not related to the family, was grazed by the bullet but didn’t need to go to hospital.

Fellow Rebels bikie member Ricky Chapman, 31, the partner of Mr Martin’s stepdaughter Stacey Schoppe, was also wounded and will have surgery later on Monday.

The incident has triggered a manhunt for the gunman, with authorities not ruling out the possibility the shooter flew into Perth to commit the crime.

Police are now on the hunt for his killer. Picture: Theo Fakos

On Monday WA Police Commissioner Chris Dawson told 6PR radio that Mr Martin did not have “good standing” with the Rebels before his death and had been “under some pressure”.

Raids have since been conducted at the Mongols and Hells Angels clubhouses and at a Shoalwater home linked to an alleged bikie associate.

A 33-year-old Mongols member was charged with possessing cocaine with intent to sell/supply, and a 30-year-old man was charged with breaching a post-sentence supervision order.

Weapons and prescription medications were allegedly found during a search of the Hells Angels clubhouse.

A 71-year-old Mongols associate has been charged with several offences after cannabis plants, a shotgun, four rifles, two firearm silencers and ammunition were allegedly found at the Shoalwater property.

State crime unit Assistant Commissioner Brad Royce said police were “taking the fight back to the gangs” following Martin’s death.

Nick Martin’s stepdaughter Stacey Schoppe tried to revive him. Source: Supplied

“While it’s a homicide and a singular incident, we’re taking it as a far bigger-picture event,” he said.

Tributes have since flowed for the slain bikie boss, with former Rebels national president Alex Vella sharing his outrage

“To be taken so cowardly in front of his wife, children and grandchildren is absolutely abhorrent,” Mr Vella wrote.

“Nick will always be remembered for being straight up forward not backward member of our great club.”

Mr Martin’s daughter Tia, who recently gave birth to his first grandchild, posted a photo on Facebook with the caption: “I love you forever and always.”

A friend of Mr Martin said the “world lost a good person”.

“I meet Nick in the early 2000s when we worked together … we became friends (and) I had the privilege of meeting his parents, daughter and sister. The public image is not the real man. He was a kind generous person,” he wrote.

Mr Martin reportedly stood down from the top job of the WA Rebels a few months ago.

His death comes just two weeks after he was bashed at a Scarborough bar, allegedly by Hells Angel boss Dayne Brajkovich.

CCTV showed the pair greeting each other with an amicable handshake before a violent clash broke out.

Mr Martin was allegedly hit to the ground before getting to his feet.

NCA NewsWire is not suggesting Mr Brajkovich played any part in Saturday night’s shooting.

COLD-BLOODED EXECUTION

Within minutes of bikie heavyweight Nick Martin being shot dead — most likely from a sniper’s bullet — the manhunt for his killer began.

As the crowds at Perth Motorplex were prevented from leaving as the grim scene of paramedics trying to revive the 51-year-old Rebel gang member took place in front of them, the gunman was making a quick escape.

The large Kwinana venue offers a sharp marksman a wide range of places to lie in wait with police investigating if the killer was perched in a stand 100m away when they made the precision shot or hidden in bushes on the raceway’s boundary fence.

The cold-blooded execution also injured a five-year old boy and another Rebel bikie, Ricky Chapman. The 31-year-old partner of Martin’s stepdaughter Stacey Schoppe was rushed to an undisclosed hospital with a gunshot wound to an arm. Last night he was in a stable condition.

The boy, balanced on the lap of Martin’s wife Amanda who was sitting next to her husband, was luckily only grazed in Saturday night’s shooting and was not treated at hospital.

Former Rebels bikie boss Nick Martin. Picture: Channel 10

A nationwide manhunt has begun as homicide and gang crime detectives work together in a large task force for one simple objective — to solve one of WA’s biggest gangland slayings in decades.

The opening of borders to the nation’s largest states — NSW and Victoria — last week expanded the exit routes the killer could have taken.

Dozen of officers, likely assisted by the Australian Federal Police’s National Anti-Gangs Squad, will be examining Martin’s movements before his shooting.

One of the first to be interviewed will be Hells Angels boss Dayne Brajkovich who allegedly bashed Martin at a Scarborough bar two weeks ago.

An outraged WA Police Commissioner Chris Dawson said police were in a “heightened state of readiness” for possible “retaliatory attacks”.

Mr Dawson warned the state’s bikies to expect police pressure to “ramp right up” as they moved to kill off an escalating gang war.

He would not elaborate on the child’s injuries, the son of a Martin family friend, but said he was treated at the scene and did not need to go to hospital.

Ambulance paramedics at the Perth scene shortly after the shooting.

He said police had ramped up resourcing amid concerns of another public attack in which innocent people may be caught up.

“As the West Australian Police Commissioner, I’m outraged at this violent, criminal behaviour that has resulted in the fatal shooting of a man,” he said.

“The fatal shooting of this man occurred in front of many innocent people at the Kwinana Motorplex last night.

“The community is justifiably outraged at this type of violent, criminal behaviour in a crowd in Western Australia. This is not the Western Australia that we want to live in.

“We will be relentless in our policing of outlaw motorcycle gangs. We have been for many years and we will continue to.”

Mr Dawson said “an extensive investigation” had started but would not speculate on whether anyone saw the shooter.

Police have launched a nationwide manhunt to find the ‘sniper’.

Asked if police had concerns the shooting was the start of an “all out bikie war”, Mr Dawson said “there has been friction and bad terms, certainly within the Rebels outlaw motorcycle gang themselves, but as I repeat they are criminal gangs”.

He conceded there were concerns about a retaliation attack but said “bikies can guarantee they are going to get a lot more contact” from police.

“Police have ramped up a very big operation on top of our normal operations,” Mr Dawson said.

“We are at a heightened state of readiness to ensure there are no retaliatory attacks, but that is the nature of the gangs that we deal with. They are already under significant police pressure and that pressure will ramp right up. We want this information, the persons or person responsible for this must be brought to justice.”

Asked if there were concerns the shooter could have already fled interstate, Mr Dawson said officers had alerted police across the country.