Rockville man attacked with tomahawk in savage home invasion

Neighbours have expressed their shock and confusion after a 68-year-old man was attacked by offenders armed with a tomahawk as daylight broke on a quiet suburban street.

Neighbours have expressed shock and concern following a violent early morning attack that left one resident on a quiet Rockville street seriously injured.

Toowoomba detectives established a crime scene after a man was attacked by offenders armed with a tomahawk in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Gypsy Suhr lives several doors down from where the attack took place on Wednesday morning, and had detectives deliver her the shocking news at her doorstep.

“I had a detective at the door, wanting to check our cameras for footage relating to a violent robbery a couple of doors up the street,” she said.

“I was really shocked, we were just getting up wearing our pyjamas having a coffee.”

Ms Suhr said the cul-de-sac was normally an “extremely quiet” street where the neighbours knew each other.

“It’s just ridiculous and it’s quite nerve racking that at 6.20 in the morning you might be putting something in the bin and you think someone is going to attack you,” she said.

Police at the scene of the incident where a 68-year-old man was attacked with a tomahawk.

Ms Suhr said she had recently installed extra security measures in the past six months due to the growing issue of property-related crimes.

Emergency services were initially called to an address in Rockville about 6.20am following reports of a 68-year-old male resident having sustained lacerations to his chest.

The man was taken to Toowoomba Hospital in a serious but stable condition.

Tanya Atkins also lives near the crime scene, and nearly encountered two people she believed may have been the perpetrators shortly after.

Rockville residents Kieran and Tanta Atkins, and Gypsy Suhr, were shocked to hear a neighbour was attacked with a tomahawk in the early hours of Wednesday, October 18.

“I was reversing out of the driveway and nearly hit two people,” Ms Atkins said.

“My husband said, ‘they don’t look real good, get inside and lock the doors’.”

She described the residents of the house as “lovely old people” and could not understand why anyone would attack them.

“Why would you hurt them? They wouldn’t hurt anyone,” she said.

“I want to know who they are, and why they would do that.”

Ms Atkins said in more than two decades living on the street, she had never encountered a similarly violent attack.

“It’s terrifying,” she said.

There have also been unconfirmed reports that the robbery was linked to a string of break-ins across the city overnight and early this morning.

Champion boxer Steve Spark said he woke up in the morning to find his car and his partner’s vehicles were missing from their Middle Ridge home.

“I was dead asleep at the time, but it looks like they cut a hole in the fly screen,” he said.

The offenders made off with a Mazda CX-3 and a Mazda CX-5.

It is understood the Mazda CX-5 was recovered at the Rockville crime scene while the Mazda CX-3 (967EL2) remains at large.

Polair in the skies on October 14, 2023 following a string of armed robberies across Toowoomba.

“When I heard what happened at Rockville I was kind of glad I slept through the break-in,” Mr Spark said.

A home in Prince Henry Heights was also targeted and is believed to be linked to the armed robbery.

The offences have prompted a large-scale manhunt across the city.

Detectives are appealing to anyone who may have witnessed anything suspicious in the Rockville area around the time of the incident this morning or may have relevant CCTV and dashcam vision to come forward.

Investigations into the incident are ongoing.

Report crime information anonymously via Crime Stoppers. Call 1800 333 000 or report online at www.crimestoppersqld.com.au.