RACQ rescue chopper’s Michael DiStefano responds to Bogie shooting

On war veteran Michael DiStefano’s first day as helicopter rescue crewman, he was sent to a now infamous mass shooting at a Queensland cattle property. This is his account.

Less than 24 hours after completing the final checks for his new job as a helicopter rescue crewman, former army veteran Michael DiStefano found himself in a new kind of war zone.

The 32-year-old was on day shift, when the call, to what turned out to be an alleged execution-style mass shooting, came in on the morning of August 4.

Speaking to the Mackay Daily Mercury, Mr Di Stefano said initially he said had no idea three people had tragically been killed at a Bogie property, west of Bowen and his first thoughts were simply “let’s go”.

RACQ CQ Rescue air crewman Michael DiStefano's first official day on the job was August 4, 2022 when the crew was called to the Bogie shooting. Picture: Janessa Ekert

Mr DiStefano, who spent 15 years in the army with a specialist skillset in areas of combat, is used to high pressure scenarios.

He said his focus was not on reports of a shooting or the potential dangers involved, but on the semantics of the operation such as landing in an unknown area and situational awareness for the pilot and medical crew.

“I was just thinking about how to get us there, what the coordinates were, how I was going to operate,” Mr DiStefano said.

He did not know it yet, but he was on the team that would soon fly critically injured Ross Tighe to Mackay Base Hospital where he underwent lifesaving surgery.

Supporting is flooding in for Bogie mass shooting survivor Ross Tighe and his partner Kaitlyn after the shock event in the remote Queensland outback.

It is understood Mr Tighe’s partner Kaitlyn had also been at her family’s property on the day of the shooting and had seen the rescue helicopter in the air.

Mr Tighe was the sole survivor after allegedly witnessing as his brother Graham Tighe, 35, mother Maree Schwarz, 59 and stepfather Mervyn Schwarz, 71, were gunned down at close range at the front gate of a neighbour’s property.

He suffered a bullet wound to the stomach and was forced to run and hide in bushes as gunshots allegedly continued to ring out.

Eventually, Mr Tighe made it to a farm ute and drove about 40km to a neighbouring homestead where he raised the alarm, and where the rescue helicopter carrying Mr DiStefano would later touch down in what is known as a “hot scoop”.

RACQ CQ Rescue flew Ross Tighe to Mackay Base Hospital with a bullet wound to his stomach after a shooting at Bogie, west of Bowen.

In lieu of flowers at the funeral, the victim’s family asked for donations to be made to RACQ CQ Rescue – which totalled about $15,000.

Darryl Young, aged 59 and who owns the Shannonvale Rd property where the mass shooting occurred, has been arrested and charged with three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.

His matters are currently ongoing in court.

Maree and Merv Schwarz and Graham Tighe all died after a shooting at a Bogie property west of Bowen. Ross Tighe survived a gunshot wound to the stomach after undergoing emergency surgery.

As the rescue chopper was en route from Mackay to Collinsville information came through that three people were presumed dead, there was a survivor and that the alleged shooter was still at large.

“From my experience being in the army and having been in combat before, it didn’t really cross my mind,” Mr DiStefano said.

“The police were on scene and that’s what we understood.

“And you’ve got to take it in pieces too because there’s so much information … what can we affect, what can’t we affect.”

Having “dealt with trauma before” he was ready to help out if there were mass casualties.

During his time in the army Mr DiStefano had been stationed in Afghanistan where he had come up against “some combat”.

Picture of police tape sealing off Shannonvale Rd about 3km from crime scene where Mervyn and Maree Schwarz along with Graham Tighe were shot and killed and Ross Tighe was wounded at Bogie, Central Queensland

His specialist skillset included close combat shooting, direct fire scenarios and more.

From Collinsville the chopper flew to the homestead and retrieved critically injured Mr Tighe.

Mr DiStefano said they were on scene no more than 10 minutes.

“The job overall is pretty rewarding to be honest. Every time you get a phone call … it is someone’s life or someone’s livelihood at risk,” he said

“But that day you don’t really think about it, you’re just doing your job.

“Afterwards the thought process was … oh we helped save that man’s life.”

After the aircraft touched back down at the Mackay airport hangar, Mr DiStefano said the team received another call from the police SERT crew – that they might be needed for a “hard arrest”.

Bogie surviving shooting victim have been identified as Ross Tighe.

“And that could be another shooting so we were … prepared for another gunfight in a sense,” he said.

As an aircrew officer Mr DiStefano’s role involves “front left seat non flying pilot duties”.

To the uninitiated, this means acting as back up to the pilot and filtering information from the rescue centre – Retrieval Services Queensland – which tasks the jobs to the medical crew on board.

This included monitoring the aircraft, conducting navigation, co-ordination with RSQ and providing situational awareness on what was occurring.

“And also reconfiguring the aircraft to take as many people as possible,” he said.

The RACQ CQ Rescue chopper was set up to take one person, but can hold two if necessary.

The 32 year old joined RACQ CQ Rescue in July 2022 moving from Townsville to Mackay. Picture: Janessa Ekert

The former corporal joined the Australian Army straight out of high school and spent eight years in an infantry battalion during which he was deployed to the Middle East and South East Asia, before he transitioned into aircrew where he worked as an air crewman on black hawk and MH90 helicopters accruing about 1200 hours flying time.

“I grew up in Newcastle and saw the Westpac rescue helicopter quite frequently as a kid and I just thought one day that would be a really rewarding career path to go down,” he said.

In fact, one of his first times in a helicopter was in Afghanistan.

“At the time I was pretty mission focused … but it sparked that interest that this was a pretty awesome machine with a really awesome capability,” he said.

Then, in his mid 20s, he made the decision to start carving that career path “to look forward … do something a little different … and give back a little more”.

Mr DiStefano spent 15 years with the Australian Army before he made the switch to civilian emergency services. Picture: Janessa Ekert

“Be a part of something bigger,” he said, adding he also went down that path with the intention of working in emergency services.

He had friends working in the same field who had been encouraging him to make the switch from the army.

In late 2021, Mr DiStefano decided it was time to do just that.

“I started getting my resumes together and all the scary things you need to apply for a job, especially for someone who hadn’t applied for a job in over 15 years,” he said.

By May 2022, Mr DiStefano had an interview with Babcock Mission Critical Services, which contracts to RACQ CQ Rescue, and the following month found out he had the job, making the move from Townsville to Mackay.

And as a former senior crewman in the army, he brought a range of established skills to the Mackay team.

RACQ CQ Rescue crew members Arno Schoonwinkle, Michael DiStefano and pilot Owen Maitland. Picture: Janessa Ekert

He said the biggest challenge in his role was the technical side, such as providing the pilot with feedback on air speed awareness and basic flying awareness.

“Consistently giving them feedback on the overall airspace awareness … knowing what to say at the right times … just to back them up,” he said.

“I want to be a contributor and make sure I’m giving them as much of the right information as possible.”

Asked what he loved most about the job he said “being part of a small team that is mission focused, task focused, outcome focused”.

“And who provides something that gives back … overall you have a positive effect.

“It’s a really rewarding experience to be a part of as well.”

Originally published as RACQ rescue chopper’s Michael DiStefano responds to Bogie shooting