South Mackay murder accused Ryan Cole’s dark past revealed
Ryan Cole, the man accused of shooting his neighbour dead in front of two children, was living alone in his dead mother’s house having lost his brother and father in separate tragedies.
Mackay
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The man accused of shooting his next door neighbour in the head in front of two children was living alone in his dead mother’s house, having also lost his brother and father in separate tragedies.
Ryan Geoffrey Cole is accused of murdering the woman next door, young mother Natalie Frahm, 34, before allegedly turning the gun on a neighbour who came to help.
Police have said they do not believe Ryan and Ms Frahm knew each other, despite being neighbours.
The horror shooting – which sparked an emergency shutdown of an area of Mackay – happened on June 19 – Ryan’s 31st birthday and within days of the anniversary of his brother’s death.
Probate documents accessed by The Courier-Mail reveal Ryan’s brother Jakob died from a gunshot wound to the head 12 years ago.
The 20-year-old plumber’s 2012 death certificate listed his cause of death as “contact gunshot wound to the head”, according to court documents.
His death was not suspicious.
Six months later, their father Dylan “Robin” Cole, also a plumber, died from a stroke. Their mother Christine died last December, leaving Ryan with an older half-sister as his only close surviving relative.
Police have alleged Ryan used a .22 calibre pistol to shoot his neighbour as she sat in her car in the driveway of her South Mackay home.
She’d been about to drive two young girls – who were in the car with her – to a sporting event.
The children managed to escape and fled down the street where they asked neighbour, 66-year-old James “Jimmy” McGill for help.
Mr McGill was allegedly shot in the chest – resulting in a serious but non-fatal wound – when he tried to help.
Several hours later, police found Ryan parked by the KFC drive through at BP Paget.
He was arrested without incident.
Police Commissioner Steve Gollschewski at the time said it was a “horrid situation”.
“A life has been lost by a really terrible act of violence by the (alleged) offender and another person has been seriously injured,” he said.
“We will look really closely, not only at what occurred yesterday but the lead up to that in terms of this person, his access to weapons and how he might have got that weapon given the circumstances we know now.”
He said Ryan lost his weapons licence in 2021, with police confiscating a collection of 11 firearms.
“That was as a result of his conduct, the weapons were removed and the licence was revoked,” he said.
Police who searched his house following the shooting say they found three guns – a pistol they allege was the murder weapon, a homemade inoperable longarm rifle and an air rifle.
Ryan and his brother Jakob featured in an article in The Courier-Mail in 2008 when the alleged gunman was bitten by a deadly coastal taipan.
His brother Jakob, then 16, as well as a group of friends, administered first aid. The group was later given a citation for bravery from the governor.
Their father Robin told the newspaper Ryan’s size – 100kg and 195cm at age 15 – as well as the quick thinking actions of his brother and friends, surely saved his life.
He said they had all completed a first aid course at a school at Mundubbera where they lived at the time.
“That’s how they saved him. If not for them he would have been gone,” Robin said.
“We’re counting our blessings this Christmas, for sure.”
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Originally published as South Mackay murder accused Ryan Cole’s dark past revealed
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