Walkerston bottle shop: Man shot in carjacking gone wrong

A publican has described how a bullet from a 9mm gun nearly hit him in the head. It took three men to take an alleged gunman to the ground after he fired four shots, one hitting a good Samaritan.

A good Samaritan has allegedly been shot outside a Walkerston pub after attempting to thwart a carjacking.

Police have overnight charged a 35-year-old Walkerston man with attempted robbery and assault occasioning bodily harm while armed over the incident in which a 34-year-old man was shot in the stomach.

O’Shea’s Hotel owner Andrew Guthrie said he was allegedly among those fired at near the Bold Street venue.

He said the bullet closely missed his head.

Mr Guthrie said one of his regular customers had pulled up to the drive-through bottle shop about 7.45pm Saturday.

Police have set up a crime scene in Walkerston after an alleged car jacking at the O'Shea's bottle shop. Picture: Lillian Watkins

CCTV footage shows a second man appearing to walk up to the car allegedly holding a gun behind his back.

It allegedly showed a man with the gun appearing to fire his shot but missing the customer.

“The bloke came out with a gun in his hand and tried to carjack Wazza, “ Mr Guthrie said.

“We went further and further along and we were scuffling, but then he fired a couple more shots and I bolted.

“A bullet went straight past us.

“When he fired another one, it must have got old mate in the stomach as he was trying to apprehend the bloke.”

Police have set up a crime scene in Walkerston after an alleged car jacking at the O'Shea's bottle shop. Picture: Lillian Watkins

Mr Guthrie said he and another customer raced outside when they heard the commotion.

The publican said the armed man fired his gun another three times, missing him but hitting the other man, Nicolas Amos, who had come out to help.

“I heard one (shot) and bolted,” he said.

“One came this way, the other went that way – and one must have gone in Nick’s guts.

“It sounded like the loudest firecracker you’ve ever heard, but I thought, no, that’s a gun.

“I heard bang bang bang, and I thought holy sh*t that is real.”

Police have set up a crime scene in Walkerston after an alleged car jacking at the O'Shea's bottle shop. Picture: Lillian Watkins

He said the bullet landed in the man’s lower abdomen.

Mr Guthrie said they were able to tackle the gunman to the ground and used tape to bind him until police arrived.

“It was a 9mm, I picked up the whole box of cartridges, the gun, the knife, everything,” he said.

“I taped him up in gaffo tape, and left him there until police came.

“We had no handcuffs obviously.

“There was three of us, two holding him full-on.”

Reports indicate many of the pub’s patrons came and offered first aid to the wounded man.

Police officers have cordoned off the area as a crime scene and begun their investigation.

Mackay Senior Sergeant Lisa Mansfield said a 34-year-old man was taken to Mackay Base Hospital with a gunshot wound to the abdomen. He remains there is a serious condition.

Police have set up a crime scene in Walkerston after an alleged car jacking at the O'Shea's bottle shop. Picture: Lillian Watkins

The 35-year-old Walkerston man who was charged will appear in the Mackay Magistrates Court on Monday.

A Queensland Ambulance Service spokesman said the man had an entry and exit wound and was taken to hospital in a stable condition.

Originally published as Walkerston bottle shop: Man shot in carjacking gone wrong