Comancheros suspects in rival bikie gang shootings

COMANCHERO bikies are the prime suspects in separate shootings after two rival Bandido bikies were shot on the Bolte Bridge just months after another shooting outside the gang’s Brunswick clubhouse.

Comanchero bikies are the prime suspects in separate shootings of rival Bandidos. Picture: AAP

COMANCHERO bikies are the prime suspects in separate shootings of rival Bandidos.

Two Bandido bikies were shot on the Bolte Bridge around 8.30pm on July 28 last year, just months after another shooting outside the gang’s Brunswick clubhouse.

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During the brazen bridge shooting, a gunman fired multiple shots at a convoy of motorbikes from a car, possibly a station wagon.

A 40-year-old man from Sunbury was wounded and fell from his bike before sliding into a barrier.

He was taken to The Alfred hospital in a serious condition.

Another man later went to hospital with gunshot wounds.

On April 7, three men — a 54-year-old from Altona, a 43-year-old from Coburg North and a 26-year-old from Gladstone Park — were shot outside a Bandidos clubhouse.

More than five shots were fired in that incident and police believe a small-calibre handgun was used.

Former Bandido enforcer Toby Mitchell was shot several times outside the same clubhouse in late 2011.

The attacks on the Bandidos are the subject of an ongoing police investigation.

Investigators have several theories but a likely scenario is the attacks are linked to the Comancheros.

The attacks on the Bandidos are the subject of an ongoing police investigation. Picture: Chris Kidd

Former Bandido club enforcer Toby Mitchell was shot several times outside the Bandidos clubhouse in late 2011. Picture: AAP

Detective Acting Snr-Sgt Paul Topham, of the Echo Taskforce, urged anybody with information about either of the shootings last year to come forward.

“People out there have information about some of these violent incidents,” he told the Sunday Herald Sun.

“That information could be of vital importance to us. Anybody who knows who is responsible for these acts of violence should come forward to Crime Stoppers or Echo Taskforce.”

The Comancheros have been plagued by infighting in recent months.

Yesterday the Herald Sun revealed that following the jailing of the gang’s national president Mick Murray, former male model Hasan Topal has taken charge of the gang in Victoria.

It comes as police step up the hunt for the gunmen who shot Murray’s former right- hand man Robert Ale in Hampton Park in February.

Police believe that may be the result of a dispute within the Comancheros, but are not ruling out other scenarios.

The power struggle in Victoria is not believed linked to the trouble the gang is experiencing in NSW, where former boss Mahmoud “Mick” Hawi was shot dead on February 15.

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@davidhurleyHS