A 19-year-old woman who is fighting for life after being shot in the head and neck in Queensland has been identified.
Vana-Reese Schuster-Togiatau, 19, is still in a critical condition after being caught up in the shooting outside Fitzy’s Loganholme on Saturday night.
Four people were shot as crowds left the pub after a boxing event, in an attack Logan Mayor Jon Raven described as sending a “shockwave” through the community.
Just hours before the shocking incident, Ms Schuster-Togiatau has posted a happy video of herself singing in the car with her boyfriend to social media.
Queensland Police responded to reports of a shooting, which took place at about 8.15pm on Bryants Rd.
The Mitsubishi allegedly used in the attack was later found burnt out at Waterford West. Police believe another car then collected the offenders, with at least three people thought to be involved.
Chief Superintendent Mel Adams urged members of the community who “know who did this” to step forward and give police the key information they need to track down the offenders.
“We will solve this crime, we absolutely will, but to do that we need community input and we need community support … that has started to ramp up and we are gathering intelligence,” she said.
“There will be people out there who know who did this or suspect who did this. We need to hear from you, we need you to contact police or Crime Stoppers.
“We need you to speak up for your community. ”
Superintendent Adams said “community input” would be the defining factor of the investigation.
“It’s important that we don’t lose community. At the moment we have four persons who have been shot. One of those persons is a 19-year-old female who is a local woman. Her family is distraught. The families of the other victims are distraught.
“That location had children, teenagers, mums and dads at that sporting event … that’s a well-known sporting event. It happens all the time in that location. Boxing events happen all the time around the state.
“If you know something, help us with this investigation. It could be the smallest thing … in isolation it might seem like nothing, but when you tell us it adds to quite a comprehensive and growing intelligence picture.
“This is a time for community to come together and this is a time for community to step up.
“This could have been your family member.”
On Sunday, Detective Inspector Ian Galpin indicated the 19-year-old woman from Jimboomba was not believed to have been targeted.
“I don’t believe the young lady was an intended victim of this, I believe she was an innocent bystander,” Inspector Ian Galpin said.
“It appals me, it’s horrific.
“It’s something that she and her family should never have to go through.”
As of Sunday morning, the woman remained in a critical condition after suffering gunshot wounds to the head and neck and undergoing surgery.
A 38-year-old Browns Plains man and a 37-year-old Salisbury man were both shot in the abdomen, with the Browns Plains man also wounded in the arm. Both have undergone surgery and are in serious but stable conditions.
A 27-year-old Cornubia man remains in a stable condition in hospital after surgery for a gunshot wound to the abdomen.
Shocking aftermath
A video taken in the immediate aftermath of the shooting shows patrons hiding around the boxing ring inside the venue.
Somebody nearby can be heard speaking on their phone to a relative, who tells them to “be safe”.
The footage then cuts away to show bullet holes in the windows of the establishment as police and ambulance teams swarm the area.
Bikie taskforce Maxima officers involved in investigation
Inspector Galpin described it as too early to speculate on a motive but said Task Force Maxima officers were involved in the investigation.
“At this point in the investigation, it would be premature of me to speculate on the involvement of any gang member or organised crime,” Inspector Galpin said.
“But obviously that will form a very important part of our ongoing investigations.”
He urged those responsible to hand themselves in and warned against anyone helping them avoid police.
“My message to these people would be to contact police, because we will identify you and we will catch up with you,” he said.
“We have a young lady who is currently fighting for life and I appeal to anyone that has any information whatsoever to please contact police and assist us with this investigation,” he said.
“This incident is clearly not acceptable, we will not tolerate it, and we are applying all our resources to identifying those involved.”
Police believe there is no ongoing threat to the public.
The crowd had been leaving Fitzys after attending the Logan City Titles Fights, promoted as an Australian National Boxing Federation event featuring 12 amateur and professional bouts. Logan Mayor Jon Raven described the event as a family-friendly night out.
“They’re a really family-friendly environment,” Mr Raven said.
“I know that there was lots of children who were there last night. This is going to impact them for the rest of their lives.”
He also described the shooting as deeply unsettling for locals.
“People are scared,” he told Weekend Today.
“This has sent a shockwave through Logan because we’ve never seen anything like this happen in our city before.”
Mr Raven praised emergency services for their quick response.
“I spoke to someone who was there. They said they couldn’t believe how quickly the police responded, and then ambulances were there within moments as well,” Mr Raven said.
“So I just want to give a huge shout out to our first responders who got there so quickly to establish that people could feel safe again and make sure that the scene was okay for people to be able to go home afterwards.”
Nationals MP David Littleproud condemned those behind the shooting, describing the alleged offenders as “animals”.
“This is just frightening, the malicious intent to drive by with intent to harm and kill,” Mr Littleproud said, according to the Courier Mail.
“This is not the Australia I grew up in and not the Australia we should hand over to the next generation”.
“We need to get these animals off the streets.”
Queensland Police Commissioner Brett Pointing has briefed Premier David Crisafulli on the “horrendous crime”, according to the Courier Mail.
“It’s just completely unacceptable that people on a night out at a pub, doing something as Queenslander as you can possibly find, can find themselves as collateral damage in such a horrendous, horrendous crime,” Mr Crisafulli said.
“I just don’t think there’s a single Queenslander who will look at that and say that’s the kind of world that we as Queenslanders want to ever see.”
The Queensland government this year introduced tougher drive-by shooting laws aimed at deterring and punishing offenders. Mr Crisafulli said he hoped those laws would be applied in this case.
“It’s my hope that these people responsible for it are arrested and that those new laws apply to them, because this isn’t the Queensland we want to see,” he said.
Anyone with information is urged to contact police.
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