Gunmen chased from Waverley Gardens with pool cues still in hiding
These brazen robbers who tried to hold up a Waverley Gardens sports bar weren’t prepared for the unbelievable fightback from patrons. And it’s a crime you can help solve.
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A wild unsolved armed holdup in Mulgrave last year saw people chasing gunmen out of a Waverley Gardens sports bar with pool cues.
The dramatic incident has been relived in a new podcast, Warning Shot, where witnesses reveal incredible information about the ordeal at the Vegas — a sports bar and pokies club.
Two men entered the bar at about 6.15pm on March 2 last year, carrying a guitar case full of stolen rifles and shotguns, which had been pinched from a Cockatoo property a day earlier.
One offender pointed his gun at a staff member, demanding cash from her.
But after taking some money, things didn’t go to plan for the bandits.
They weren’t prepared for the resistance of Vegas patrons, who were even throwing chairs and pool cues in a bid to stop the holdup.
“Another one of the boys was throwing the sticks and everything,” one witness told Crime Stoppers’ Warning Shot podcast.
“There were nearly 10 people sitting at the two tables with us.”
When one of the offenders started to leave the venue, he was confronted by a man and a scuffle broke out.
The other criminal then hit the vigilante patron in the head with his firearm.
The vigilantes chased the criminals all the way out to the carpark, with one man saying he just did it because he was “pissed off”.
With more than 10 bar patrons in the carpark, as the getaway driver waited for the other criminals, one man fired a shot at the roof.
That bullet ricocheted off the ceiling and into the stomach of the man who had been earlier hit in the heat with a gun.
He survived the shooting after being taken to hospital.
“After three hours in hospital, I went to the toilet and saw the blood coming out (of my stomach),” the man told Warning Shot.
“I was at the hospital for four days and (the bullet) was removed a month later.”
The two bandits got into a silver Mitsubishi and as they attempted to drive off, but another patron pushed a trolley into their car.
Armed Crime Squad Detective Inspector Dean Thomas is hoping the podcast will unearth more information needed to solve this case.
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“These are brazen criminals, and we need to get them off Victorian streets. We implore anyone with information to come forward and share what they know,” Inspector Thomas said.
“They might think it’s nothing, but it might just be the final piece of the puzzle that we need to solve this crime.”
Anyone who witnessed the incident or with further information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.