Bikies look out of place
BIKIE Toby Mitchell lay in hospital yesterday, recovering from gunshot wounds. He wasn't talking, but others were.
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BIKIE Toby Mitchell lay in hospital yesterday, recovering from gunshot wounds. He wasn't talking, but others were.
Sources said there was no argument before Mr Mitchell was shot in Brunswick on Monday afternoon, contrary to initial reports. Rather, two men opened fire when Mitchell appeared outside a gym in Weston St.
The men may have laid in wait. Shots echoed before onlookers could process what was happening. A source said it appeared to be a failed hit, "brazen".
Mayhem enveloped Barkly Square shopping centre about 4.40pm, a time and place for mothers getting supplies from one of two supermarkets, kids in tow.
Shot once in the back and twice in the hip, Mitchell stumbled across the road into the centre's carpark. One of the bullets hit a passing car; inside, a father and his daughters were unhurt. Shoppers ducked and ran.
The shooting disturbed the uneasy resignation that reigned through the gangland wars. Baddies hurting baddies wasn't ideal, but at least it didn't spill into the real world of mums, kids and passers-by.
Monday's shooting was not unlike the murder of Jason Moran as he watched kids play football in 2003.
It was of this world, not that of a twilight parallel only glimpsed on the margins of ordinary society.
Yesterday morning the trail of Mitchell's blood still tracked to a black sedan, where he had planted a red handprint on a rearview mirror and fallen down.
In the place where he was shot at gleamed a black Porsche, the plaything of a gym goer inside.
The client was part of a steady trickle at Doherty's Gym, known to locals as "a Switzerland", where lawyers, celebrities, athletes, wrestlers and the odd bikie mingle without rancour.
About two years ago, the Bandidos bikie gang, including senior member Mitchell, set up a clubhouse next door. It's easy to miss, just a black facade tucked between the gym and a building supplier.
Bikies in Brunswick is not a natural fit. Like Collingwood, the slum label was long ago replaced with loftier adjectives.
In Brunswick West, owners ask $3 million-plus for their homes. In Weston St $500,000 isn't enough for a single-fronted cottage that needs a little love and a lot of money. The real estate board speaks of an "exclusive neighbourhood".
A police information van was in the carpark yesterday. A man with a mohawk lurked near a roller door of the clubhouse: he didn't look open to a chin-wag, especially when police searched the clubhouse after 2.30pm. Otherwise, Brunswick looked much as the real estate agents might have you believe.