A man has been shot after a
Thornton home was peppered with bullets in Maitland’s second
horrific shooting attack in just three days.
About 20 shots were fired into
the Deschamps Close home about midnight Sunday.
A 44-year-old man, who Fairfax
Media understands was temporarily staying at the home, was
treated by paramedics at the scene then rushed to John Hunter
Hospital after he was shot in the leg.
His injuries were not
life-threatening and he was discharged from hospital on Sunday.
The violent ambush follows
another shooting attack in Maitland just three days before, when
the Chisholm home of jailed Finks boss
Andrew Manners was hit while his partner and child were inside.
About 20 bullets were fired into
the Thornton residence with what neighbours said sounded
like a semi-automatic weapon.
“It was just rapid gunfire,” one
resident said. “I saw the flashes.
“It was so loud, I thought ‘s---
that’s close’.”
In similar circumstances to the
Chisholm incident, it is understood that a child was inside the
house at the time of the attack.
“It’s just horrible to think
about,” a neighbour said.
“I feel for the women and
children in this street,” another resident added. “What if there
was a stray bullet? They can ricochet.”
A neighbour called the police
after hearing the gunfire and said within 15 minutes about 40
officers were on scene.
“There were so many police here,”
the resident said. “It was just crazy.”
The attack was the latest in of a
string of public shootings across the Hunter in 2018. Of those
attacks this is the first known incident in which a person has
been shot.
Homes in Gillieston Heights and Tenambit have
also come under fire in a tit-for-tat gang war, while the Nomads
clubhouse was the target of a molotov cocktail attack in
January.
In response to the escalating
bikie violence, police
established a strike force in February
specifically designed to tackle the ongoing feud between rival
gangs the Nomads and Finks in the Maitland area.
Northern Region operations
manager Detective Superintendent Wayne Humphrey vowed the team,
made up of highly trained detectives and bolstered with members
from the State Crime Command’s Strike Force Raptor, would try to
shatter the gangs’ “code of silence” that has obstructed police
investigations.
“You have to tell us what’s going
on,” he said. “Eventually someone close to you, or even someone
innocent, could be badly injured or worse. It’s your behaviour
and your activities that are causing this.”