Woman charged with murder after man shot dead opposite primary school at Labrador

RESIDENTS were left in shock when investigators swooped on a quiet residential street on the Gold Coast yesterday after a was shot dead.

Forensic experts search the Labrador home where a 43-year-old man is believed to have been shot dead. Picture: Regi Varghese.

A 48-YEAR-OLD woman has been charged with murder after the fatal shooting of a 43-year-old man in the Gold Coast suburb of Labrador yesterday.

Paramedics were unable to save the man, who was believed to have died at the scene after he was shot inside an Imperial Parade home, directly opposite Labrador State School, just after 2pm.

It is believed the man was shot in the chest with a handgun. He was alive when police arrived but died shortly after.

Police rushed to the house, next door to a kindergarten, after reports of a shot and cordoned off a perimeter of several hundred metres as they questioned residents and bystanders for hours.

A woman is led from the scene of yesterday’s shooting death for questioning. Picture: Regi Varghese

The cordon caused chaos for parents of the primary school pupils and many were unable to collect their children for several hours.

Preschoolers at the kindergarten were ferried by teachers to their parents, who had been forced to wait in adjoining streets.

Detective Inspector Mark Thompson said the 48-year-old woman was taken into police custody at the scene and questioned before she was last night charged with one count of murder.

She is due to appear in the Southport Magistrates Court today.

Police interview a woman at the scene of the shooting in Labrador. Photo: Regi Varghese

A man and another woman were also questioned by police yesterday but have not been charged.

Inspector Thompson said police were unsure of the relationship between the people in the home but detectives believed the alleged shooter and the victim knew each other.

“On arrival, police located a male suffering serious, life-threatening injuries and at this point in time we have one female and a number of witnesses who are assisting with inquiries,” he said.

Parents pick children up from Labrador State School after Imperial Parade was opened. Photo: Regi Varghese

“The investigation is in its infancy but at the moment it looks like it’s an altercation between a close group of people. Inquiries are ongoing to establish that relationship.”

Shortly after the shooting, police escorted the two women, both wearing forensic jumpsuits, from the scene.

One was flanked by officers as she walked out of the white weatherboard house sitting at the foot of a zebra crossing, less than 200m from Broadwater MP Verity Barton’s electorate office.

A man dressed in black was questioned by police at the end of the street and later taken for further questioning.

Police at the scene of the shooting in Labrador. Photo: Regi Varghese

Inspector Thompson said a handgun had been recovered.

A neighbour, who asked not to be named, said the woman next door could be heard last week screaming obscenities at her children.

The neighbour said the man of the house worked at a local hotel and was the father of one of the women who left with police.

A woman who lived only blocks away said she knew the people who lived in the home and that they were generally quiet and kept to themselves.

“The man there is very quiet, very nice to me,” she said.

“He has three kids — one boy and two girls.”

Originally published as Woman charged with murder after man shot dead opposite primary school at Labrador