Police manhunt, neighbours terrified as shots allegedly fired in streets

Witnesses have described the “scary” moments after a man, who now faces 30 charges, allegedly fired shots at a home. LATEST.

A man has been charged with 30 offences after he allegedly fired shots at an Arthur Street home in Kingaroy about 4am on Wednesday.

The man is then alleged to have fled following the incident, resulting in a major police operation, before he was taken into custody by specialist officers around 1.30pm at Foleys Road at Goodger.

He has been charged with thirty offences including acts intended to cause grievous bodily harm, dangerous conduct with a weapon, enter premises to commit indictable offence, attempted enter dwelling with intent while armed, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, unlawful use of a motor vehicle, stealing and authority required to possess explosives.

The man has been remanded in police custody to appear in the Kingaroy Magistrates Court on Thursday

Police were initially focused on a stolen black Suzuki Swift, but their focus shifted to a red Subaru after the person of interest was allegedly sighted loading firearms into the vehicle on Wednesday afternoon.

A man is arrested by police after shots were fired in Kingaroy. Photo: 7 News

The red Subaru was reported as stolen across several South Burnett based Facebook groups around midday on Monday.

The posters’ said the car was allegedly stolen from a depot on Stolzenberg Rd, as you enter the town from the Nanango side, around 12.30pm.

One commenter claimed the stolen Subaru allegedly “sped” past her and drove on the wrong side of the road towards the airport.

“Scared the hell out of me as I had my toddler in the car and they (allegedly) almost crashed behind me before over taking into oncoming traffic,” she wrote.

The man was arrested about 1.30pm Wednesday after police, including heavily armed specialist officers, swarmed on the South Burnett town.

The 25-year-old man is understood to have suffered minor injuries during the arrest.

He was arrested at Foleys Road at Goodger, about 10km south of Kingaroy.

Darling Downs Superintendent Doug McDonald police would allege the man was in possession of several high-powered rifles that were stolen from a South Burnett property about 24 hours earlier.

“It appears the male shot a number of rounds into an address, those investigations are still ongoing,” he said.

“Very early on we identified a person of interest.”

Police are treating the matter as a suspected act of domestic violence.

Officers were in contact with the man through Wednesday but refused to surrender to police.

Specialist officers from the Special Emergency Response Team were called in, supported by the Dog Squad and Polair.

As precaution police locked down part of Kingaroy Hospital and St Mary’s Catholic School.

“No students attended school there today,” Superintendent McDonald said.

He thanked the members of the community who called in with information related to a stolen Suzuki Swift that the man was allegedly in possession of.

“We received significant help from the community in relation to that,” Superintendent McDonald said.

“I am very impressed with all of the efforts that our officers and the community have pulled together to apprehend this person of interest.

Kingaroy was put into a partial lockdown early on Wednesday morning, as police responded to the shooting in a ‘normally quiet’ residential neighbourhood.

A number of people, including a woman and young child, were able to leave the property safely prior to police arrival.

Police said shortly before 4am, a number of gunshots were fired from an Arthur Street property.

Multiple neighbours living near the home said they heard around 13 gunshots between the hours of 2am and 4am, when police arrived.

They said there would be “a couple of shots, then a pause, then a couple more shots”, with the sound slightly changing direction as if the person was moving up and down Haly and Arthur Streets.

“It would go away, at a distance, then it would come closer, like real close. It was in the street here,” one Arthur Street resident said.

One neighbour said she didn’t hear any yelling or loud voices during the incident, while another said he heard some raised voices but the sound was too far to hear anything clearly.

Some neighbours said they were aware of some issues with drugs in the area and had seen police around the home in question, but they had never had any issues with gun violence.

“It’s normally quiet. It’s just out of the blue,” one woman said.

A Haly Street woman said she woke up to the sounds of the gunshots, but stayed inside and didn’t turn on any lights for fear of becoming a target.

“You just sort of be quiet.”

Multiple neighbours living near the home said they heard around 13 gunshots between the hours of 2am and 4am, when police arrived.

She said the incident left her rattled and she couldn’t go back to sleep even after the sounds of gunshots had stopped.

“I couldn’t sleep – I’ve a bad past and it was all flashbacks.”

Access to the Kingaroy Hospital was restricted until due to the incident, however the person involved was not believed to be a patient from the hospital.

Other businesses and facilities in the area, including some schools, were advised to close as police responded to the incident.

Around 8.15am on Wednesday morning, the hospital was open to the public but a security officer was stationed at the door to let people in.

A patient at the hospital who stayed overnight said he saw one or two policemen walking around the facility, one carrying a rifle, in the early hours of the morning.

Some neighbours said they were aware of some issues with drugs in the area and had seen police around the home in question, but they had never had any issues with gun violence.

Originally published as Police manhunt, neighbours terrified as shots allegedly fired in streets