Councillor Jack Medcraft says McDonald’s shooting needs to be a ‘wake up call’ for Sunbury
The community has rallied around officers forced to seek refuge from gunfire at a McDonald’s this week, with a furious Sunbury councillor saying the incident was a “wake-up call” to better protect our emergency services.
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There will be an “increased” police presence in Sunbury after a gunman opened fire on officers, the top local cop says, while a local councillor said the incident was a “wake up call”.
Police were forced to seek cover inside the Sunbury McDonald’s after shots were fired at their car on Horne St just after 3.15am on Tuesday.
Further shorts were allegedly fired at the police car as officers took shelter in the restaurant. The car was then rammed by a silver sedan that later fled the scene.
Two Sunbury men aged 26 and 18, and a 33-year-old man of no fixed address, were charged with reckless conduct endangering injury and discharging a firearm at a vehicle.
The two Sunbury men were also charged with prohibited possession of a firearm.
Hume Inspector Anthony Brown said there would be an increased police presence to reassure the community but at this stage the investigation was ongoing.
The incident comes a month after a 19-year-old Sunbury man was charged with ramming a police car and injuring a police officer.
Hume councillor Jack Medcraft said the incident needed to be a “wake up call” for the town.
“Police are putting their lives on the line for the community. There needs to be consequences for this type of behaviour,” he said.
“The community of Sunbury is fed up with the way people use police as punching bags.”
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The State Government introduced tougher sentencing for people to attack and injure
emergency service workers, including on-duty police, last year.
Retired Sunbury sergeant John Letchford said he was concerned about rising animosity toward police within Victoria.
“It’s very disconcerting to the extent that we’re losing respect within the community for our frontline officers who are here to look after us,” he said.
“It’s a wake up call for all of us to be more vigilant and to suddenly call Crime Stoppers or triple-0 when we see suspicious activities.”