‘Bizarre, inexplicable’: Man sentenced for Bridgewater McDonald’s drive-thru shooting
A court has heard a young McDonald’s drive-thru attendant “has flashbacks” about the night she nearly died when a man shot a gun through the window - but he won’t see the inside of a cell.
Police & Courts
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A MAN who fired a gun through the Bridgewater McDonald’s drive-thru window, leaving a traumatised staff member with flashbacks, has been sentenced for the “bizarre and almost inexplicable” crime.
On Friday, Lee Mark Phillips appeared in the Supreme Court of Tasmania after the “reckless, threatening gesture” committed on May 29 last year.
Justice Stephen Estcourt said Phillips, then 35, left his home after midnight with a 12-gauge sawn-off shotgun.
He attempted to open the front door of McDonald’s, which was locked, before jumping over a glass partition into the playground area about 1.09am, attempting to force entry.
Wearing a balaclava, he walked into the drive-thru behind a blue Ford Focus that was waiting to collect an order.
Walking up to the drive-thru, he tapped on the glass window, before tapping again with the shotgun itself.
A 26-year-old female staff member was cleaning behind the counter at the time, hearing the knock at the window, and was less than a metre away when Phillips held up the gun.
She yelled “he’s got a gun, he’s got a gun” and moved away before Phillips discharged it through the drive-thru window.
The store manager told the employees to hide in the back of the store, with Phillips walking away.
Police arrested him about 2am.
“The path of the pellet through the drive-thru window means ….it would have struck the upper chest of the complainant had she remained at the window,” Justice Estcourt said.
“The defendant’s offending is very serious. The complainant could have been injured or killed had she not been so quick to act.
“She has flashbacks about what happened.
“She keeps thinking about what happened and how she nearly died.”
Police executed a search warrant at Phillips’ home, finding a Jack Daniels bag in the pantry with rounds of shotgun pellets.
Justice Estcourt, noting the “bizarre and almost inexplicable nature of the offending”, said Phillips spent 192 days in custody after he was apprehended by police and had expressed remorse for the crime.
Phillips, who pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, possessing a stolen firearm, recklessly discharging a firearm, possessing a shortened firearm and ammunition, and possessing a dangerous article, was sentenced to an 18-month home detention order.
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