Fed-up parents stand outside home of teen bailed after allegedly pointing fake gun at Melbourne shoppers

Furious Melbourne locals have staged a protest and stood guard outside a suburban home with cries of “dog” and “get out of this street”.

Frank Chung

@franks_chung

4 min read

February 10, 2025 - 12:58PM

Furious locals have staged a protest outside the Melbourne home of a 14-year-old bailed after allegedly pointing an imitation gun at shoppers.

The teen, who cannot be identified, was one of two boys charged by police after the rampage at Somerville in Melbourne’s southeast on Thursday.

Both boys were released just hours after being arrested, sparking outrage at the state’s lax bail laws as fed-up locals gathered outside the 14-year-old’s Mornington Peninsula home on Friday night.

“A couple of hundred [people], easy,” one woman told 7News.

“They came from everywhere. They were calling them ‘dog’ and everything, just, you know, just ‘get off this property’ and ‘get out of this street’.”

Footage circulating on social media showed large groups of people gathered on the street, with police in attendance.

Protesters gathered outside the 14-year-old’s home to protest the state’s lax bail laws. Picture: 7News

“It was a peaceful protest to send a message to these young kids people have had enough,” one local wrote on Facebook.

“We have all had enough of crime, bad behaviour, drugs and lenient court sentences,” another woman said.

A Victoria Police spokeswoman confirmed police attended the street on Friday evening “after a number of people gathered outside a home following social media reports to attend an address for a rally”.

“Officers provided a presence at the location and patrolled throughout the evening,” she said. “There were no incidents of note.”

Victorian opposition leader Brad Battin urged against “vigilante” behaviour.

“Kids are getting bail, they’re sticking their finger up at the government each and every time they get on social media and brag that they can steal a car, do an aggravated burglary and be back on the street in an hour-and-a-half,” he told 7News.

“But to go on to vigilante acts after is only going to make matters worse.”

Two teens were bailed after allegedly pointing imitation guns at shoppers. Picture: 7News

Police allege that the teenage boys pointed imitation handguns at people in a Somerville shopping centre on Thursday morning.

The boys allegedly stole the imitation guns from a store at around 10.40am before pointing the guns at members of the public as they moved through the centre.

“Officers were quickly on scene and arrested three boys,” Victoria Police said in a statement on Friday.

“A 14-year-old and 16-year-old have since been charged with possess imitation firearm, affray and theft. They were bailed to appear before a children’s court at a later date. A 13-year-old boy was released without charges.”

A woman who was holding her 18-month-old when she was allegedly threatened with a fake gun told 3AW on Friday that she had just walked out of Target to order a coffee.

“Three young boys walked in,” she said.

Fed-up locals organised a protest outside the home. Picture: 7News

“My daughter was playing in the playground. They walked over to her and pointed the gun directly in her face. My daughter was looking straight at him. I have no idea about guns, I didn’t know if it was real or fake. My initial reaction was to pick her up and move her away. Luckily the boys turned around and walked away. We were very shocked and scared. There were a lot of witnesses who were scared as well, which is understandable.”

The woman thanked the “fantastic and really supportive police”, but said the situation would take time to get over.

“I just keep picturing a gun in my daughter’s face, which isn’t very nice,” she said.

“It will take a little bit of time, but we’ll try and move on. My family and partner are disappointed and upset as well.”

The incident came just two days after Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan announced a review of the state’s bail laws — just six months after they were changed by her own government — telling journalists she had asked Police Minister Anthony Carbines and Attorney-General Sonya Kilkenny to look into the matter.

Police attended to keep the peace. Picture: 7News

“It’s unacceptable to me that many Victorians, particularly women and children, aren’t feeling as safe as they should be … we need to look at what more needs to be done,” she said.

Mr Carbines contradicted his own Premier on Wednesday, denying any formal review was being set up.

“I wouldn’t even say that there’s particularly a review … we’re always working on what more we can do to keep the community safe,” he told reporters.

“We’re always talking about these matters. I talk about them every day with both Victoria Police, the chief commissioner, and the Premier and my colleagues. We’re always focused on these matters. We never stop talking about what we can do to keep the community.”

Asked why Ms Allan had announced a review, Mr Carbines said he had been “tasked to do some work” by the Premier but it would not be significantly different to the work he was already doing.

“I have conversations with the Premier all the time about what we can do to keep the community safe,” he said.

Police Minister Anthony Carbines and Premier Jacinta Allan. Picture: David Geraghty/NCA NewsWire

“I’m always putting forward different ideas and different reforms that would support police in the work that they do to hold offenders to account and bring them before the courts. We’re doing that all the time.”

Mr Carbines said there was “no doubt that the Premier is clear that she would like to see a greater focus from myself and [the Attorney-General] on what we can do in the most immediate terms to keep the community safe”.

“We’ll bring back some other proposals as soon as we can,” he said.

“We can call it review, that’s fine. I’m OK about that … I will have proposals and ideas that I will bring to the cabinet and to my colleagues in the government, but we’re not talking about some longwinded piece of work here.”