Residents of a quiet Toowoomba suburb say they were shocked by a sudden spasm of violence
Dozens descended on a Toowoomba park for what appeared to have been an organised brawl. Armed with baseball bats they blocked off the nearby streets with their cars.
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Residents of a sleepy Toowoomba suburb have been rattled by a spasm of violence in their otherwise quiet park when two groups of people descended on the area for an arranged fight.
Dozens of people piled into the Airport Estate Park in Wilsonton and proceeded to pair off and fight each other on Monday about 3.20pm.
The melee was filmed by an onlooker and shared to social media.
It showed at least three pairs punching on in what appeared to be consensual fights.
One witness, who wished to remain anonymous, said she was relaxing in her Lindberg Street home when she heard the violence erupt.
“My heart was beating about 300 beats per minute,” she said.
“The dog was barking and I looked out to see 40-50 people in the park.
“They spilt over to my side of the road and we ran through my garden with baseball bats.
“A fella came around the corner and parked in front of our post box, he got out his car with a bat and ran into the crowd.”
As the fighting went on the neighbours made multiple Triple 0 calls.
“I called my husband and told him not to come home because he wouldn’t be able to get into the house,” the woman said.
“When I heard the police sirens the group ran off.”
While the police were called to the matter no one was arrested.
The woman said the violence was out of character for the area.
“It was the only time in my life that I have rung Triple 0, it was pretty scary.” she said.
“The police said it was two families fighting and they picked different places to fight at.”
Another neighbour said he saw the cars piling up and called the police instantly
“The crowd just turned up and started arguing and fighting,” he said.
“Heard yelling and screaming and went out to see what had happened and the next minute cars turned up from Hell, West and Crooked.
“They virtually blocked the street off
“Apparently there is a bit of history of them going to different parks to fight, they pick a park and away they go.”
Police have confirmed they received multiple calls about the fighting at 3.20pm on Monday afternoon with the first officers arriving within 10 minutes.
“Upon police arrival, the group had begun to disperse and there was no altercation located,” a Queensland Police Service spokesman said.
“Due to the high volume and diverse nature of requests for policing services, calls for service are carefully triaged to prioritise those with the greatest threat to life and to public safety. “Officers are deployed to urgent, high priority matters first, with response times influenced by several factors, including the details provided at the time of the call, the nature of the offence, and the specific conditions at the scene.
“The Darling Downs District regularly reviews its deployment of resources to address emerging community concerns and operates a borderless policing model, which allows for the allocation of resourcing based on operational needs.”