Bikie Shane Bowden shot dead in execution-style killing on Gold Coast
A former friend of slain bikie Shane Bowden has given an insight into the notorious Finks member’s reputation, saying that he was the ‘last of the true-blue psychos’ in Melbourne’s underworld. It comes as Bowden’s devastated ex-girlfriend begged for an end to the “bikie wars”.
Police & Courts
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Police believe Mongols gangsters were behind the brutal execution of notorious Finks bikie Shane Bowden outside his Gold Coast home.
The former Mongols enforcer, who fled Melbourne after being injured in a drive-by shooting at Epping in July, was shot up to 12 times at point-blank range.
“He hasn’t even got out of his vehicle and he’s been shot multiple times,” Queensland Police Detective Superintendent Brendan Smith said.
Bowden’s new partner and her two young children were home at the time, but did not see the horrific shooting on Monday morning.
The veteran bikie, aged 47, was killed weeks after emerging from quarantine.
He was caught at Brisbane Airport in August after fleeing Victoria in fear for his life, with initial fears he was COVID-19 positive and may have infected more than 80 passengers on the plane.
It is believed Bowden, a Finks “terror team” member before the group patched over to the Mongols en masse, was trying to recruit members to his old gang, but police do not believe his death will trigger a gangland war.
Instead, police believe Bowden was deliberately targeted over a bitter falling out with the Mongols in Melbourne and have enlisted help from Victoria’s anti-bikie Echo Taskforce.
Police sources told the Herald Sun Bowden had fallen foul of the Mongols in Melbourne and was moving with members of the Comancheros, one of the gang’s fiercest rivals.
COVID, BULLETS AND LOST LOVE: SLAIN BIKIE'S FINAL INTERVIEW
BOWDEN’S EX ‘BROKEN’
The ex-girlfriend of Shane Bowden has revealed her heartbreak over the loss of her former love after he was shot dead in an execution-style killing on the Gold Coast overnight.
Trudi McPhee said Shane Bowden did not deserve to be executed in such a horrific manner.
“He didn’t deserve this, he didn’t deserve to die,” Ms McPhee told the Herald Sun.
“It’s a coward’s way. He believed for months leading up to his death that people were following him. It is heartbreaking.”
Ms McPhee has issued a stern plea to the Australian bikie world, begging for the “tit for tat” violence to stop.
“The bikie wars need to stop,” she said.
“Enough is enough. It is time all these tit for tats stop before they escalate further.
“What happens if the shooter missed and got the children or an innocent bystander? Innocent people don’t need to be mixed in all this.
“This bikie lifestyle is not what it used to be. You’re supposed to be there for your brother, not shooting them.”
Ms McPhee co-parented her 14-year-old son with Bowden.
She says she will cherish love letters Bowden wrote to her from jail.
“We are lost for words to be honest, I’m broken,” she said. “He was my soulmate, the love of my life.
“Shane didn’t deserve this. If one of his brothers wanted something, he was always the first one there.
“He had a lot of good about him, a great heart and a great soul.”
The Finks OMCG will host Bowden’s funeral in the coming weeks.
Senior police sources say the slaying could spark the return of gangland warfare to the Gold Coast, saying Mongols and Finks had been preparing for a showdown for months.
“Expect more bodies on the street,” one source said.
HOW EXECUTION-STYLE SHOOTING UNFOLDED
Gold Coast police were called to a home in the northern suburb of Pimpama at 12.10am on Monday where they found Bowden dead.
A short time later, a burnt-out vehicle was discovered nearby in Mirambeena Drive.
Crime scenes have been declared in both locations.
Detective Superintendent Brendan Smith said Bowden’s partner and two small children were at home when he was murdered in his driveway.
“It clearly seems he has been ambushed,” Dept Supt Smith said.
“At this point, we believe the victim came home from the gym and has driven into his driveway, the assailants have run in and shot him multiple times and consequently now he is deceased.”
“He’s basically driven into his driveway, hasn’t gotten out of his car and has been executed.”
The detective confirmed it was bikie-related and said it was a matter within one club, rather than one club against another.
“It is important that people understand that these gangs are criminals, they don’t take fluffy toys to hospital, they are criminal gangs who survive on retribution, violence and threats and if anyone thinks anything otherwise they’re an idiot.”
“(The family) are obviously upset, it’s not something you expect to happen in your home, but dare I say and nobody deserves to die in this manner, but you live by the sword, you die by the sword.”
Police are searching for two men, a man in dark clothing and a man in light clothing.
The attack was believed to be from either The Mongols or The Finks bikie gangs.
Bowden was once part of the Finks “terror team” and responsible for shooting Christopher Hudson during the Gold Coast’s ballroom blitz brawl.
Neighbour Rhys Wendtmann said he heard “really loud” bangs overnight.
“Me and my wife just looked at each other (and thought) it was probably just the train line, or kids or something and then we heard cars.
“We went back to sleep and I woke up to the bang, bang bang of police. I thought the whole thing was a dream.”
Wendtmann said he had spoken to Bowden, who had only just recently moved in, a few times.
“He was nice,” he said.
Resident Aidan McAllister said he was sitting on the couch and heard several shots – which sounded far away so he thought nothing of it.
“Turns out it’s a couple of doors down,” he said.
“It’s a bit of a rude awakening in your own street to hear something like that. I’ve done a little bit of research online so I do know that he was a bikie but it’s still an incredibly shocking thing and I feel sorry for his family members.
He said there was cameras throughout the unit complex.
Mr McAllister said the shots were fired in quick succession.
BIKIE’S LIFE UNDER THREAT AFTER PRISON RELEASE
Bowden’s dash to Queensland came after he was shot at in his Epping driveway on July 1, weeks after being released from jail. The countdown clock on his life began as a stretch limousine waited outside jail to take him home in mid-June.
Bowden’s Mongol bikie “brothers’’ including club president Toby Mitchell — who has been at the helm of the club for about a year — arrived to greet him as he walked out of Loddon Prison.
The club had backed its man during his incarceration via their Brothers Behind Bars support program, and the limo was an extravagant touch to welcome him back.
With a convoy of bikies on Harley-Davidsons escorting him back to Melbourne from the jail near Castlemaine, he was given a hotel suite and celebrated in style that night after five years on the inside.
It took just 15 days for Bowden to be shot in Epping and kicked out of the Mongols in “bad standing’’.
The Herald Sun believes Bowden had been speaking to another Mongol when shots were fired into his driveway from a car, hitting him in the lower body.
He had discharged himself from hospital soon after the July attack, paranoid he was being watched and vulnerable to another attempt on his life.
Two unknown gunmen remain at large.
The motive for the attack is under investigation, but it is not uncommon for fallouts to occur when senior bikie members return after prison stints.
Insiders say the Mongols distanced themselves from the Epping attack and any infighting.
“Whatever happened to him, happened to him, but it’s his own demons from the past,’’ one observer said.
Bowden’s murder has led to speculation of power struggles within the Mongols and payback for shooting Hells Angel Christopher Wayne Hudson in 2006.
But the rumour mill has been in overdrive for months.
Bowden was “arrogant’’ enough to try to reassert his power upon leaving prison and ignore putting his own life in peril, the Herald Sun has been told.
“He’s been in dangerous positions before,’’ an insider said.
“He was an arrogant son of a bitch. Shane would have walked out (from jail) and said ‘I’m taking over’.’’
Another rumour has it Bowden rejoined the Finks and immediately put a target on his back by having sex with another member’s wife.
‘’He was a true-blue psycho. The last of the true-blue psychos,’’ a former mate said.
‘’When you’re in his situation you don’t have any mates. It’s not an industry of long-term friendships.’’
The Finks will host Bowden’s funeral in coming weeks.
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Originally published as Bikie Shane Bowden shot dead in execution-style killing on Gold Coast