{"id":614838,"date":"2026-04-18T10:20:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T10:20:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/614838\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T10:20:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T10:20:12","slug":"one-dead-one-fighting-for-life-after-car-swerves-into-pedestrians-at-showgrounds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/614838\/","title":{"rendered":"One dead, one fighting for life after car swerves into pedestrians at Showgrounds"},"content":{"rendered":"

Updated April 18, 2026 \u2014 8:11pm,first published 6:25pm<\/p>\n

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A man is dead and his friend is fighting for life after they were hit by a car that swerved onto the footpath outside a fan convention at Melbourne Showgrounds on Saturday evening.<\/p>\n

The car was driven by a 33-year-old Werribee man, who Major Collision Investigation Unit Detective Inspector Craig McEvoy said was \u201cwell known to police\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"AA car mounted the kerb and struck two pedestrians outside Melbourne Showgrounds.Luis Enrique Ascui<\/p>\n

He said Victoria Police was investigating whether the incident \u2013 which occurred just after 5pm \u2013 was intentional.<\/p>\n

\u201c100 per cent. We\u2019ll look at everything. We\u2019ll let the evidence tell us what\u2019s occurred here tonight,\u201d McEvoy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still yet to determine if drugs, alcohol, speed are involved, but that will form part of our investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

A witness, Tom, who only gave his first name, had just left the festival with his wife and young daughter when the silver Toyota Echo sped past them. \u201cI heard a screech and a guy mounted the kerb at an erratic speed, hit a couple people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"EmergencyEmergency services examine the car that mounted the kerb and struck two pedestrians.Luis Enrique Ascui<\/p>\n

McEvoy said the car then drove 120 metres along the footpath between trees, power poles and the fence around the Showgrounds venue, where the popular Supanova Comic Con and Gaming event was being held on Saturday.<\/p>\n

When the car U-turned back down the street towards Tom, it stalled, and he ran up to the driver and stopped him from fleeing.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was erratic,\u201d Tom said. \u201cI said, \u2018you\u2019re not going anywhere, mate.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

An off-duty police officer arrived at the scene shortly after and arrested the driver.<\/p>\n

Two men in their 20s were hit by the vehicle. One died at the scene while the other was rushed to hospital with life-threatening injuries. A third person was also taken to hospital due to the trauma of the incident.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe vehicle has travelled a significant distance along the footpath, which is extremely odd,\u201d McEvoy said<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing suggests at this point in time it\u2019s medically related.\u201d<\/p>\n

The driver was under police guard on Saturday night, and McEvoy said detectives were waiting to interview him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s well known to police at this point in time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"EmergencyEmergency services attended after a car struck two pedestrians, killing one, outside Supanova fan expo. Luis Enrique Ascui<\/p>\n

Dozens of police and SES volunteers had taped off the street and were interviewing witnesses around 6pm.<\/p>\n

Tom said his wife, a paramedic, worked on the seriously injured victim for 20 minutes before emergency services relieved her.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe couldn\u2019t move, but he was breathing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

A police officer was overheard at the scene saying the incident was \u201cgraphic\u201d and difficult to witness.<\/p>\n

Fabian, a resident of Langs Road, saw four to five police officers and paramedics tending to an injured victim at about 5.15pm.<\/p>\n

He said the victim\u2019s large black platform boots were strewn across the footpath.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe boots of one of the victims were strewn across the footpath.Luis Enrique Ascui<\/p>\n

\u201cI really hope whoever it is pulls through, holy shit,\u201d he said. \u201cIt looked really grim.\u201d <\/p>\n

Fabian, who has lived in the area for six years, said the traffic was often abysmal in the area, particularly when events were held at the Showgrounds. <\/p>\n

\u201c[There\u2019s] huge crowds, huge lines [and people] directing traffic one way along Langs Road,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Three SES marquees were set up outside the Ascot Vale venue, next to Flemington Racecourse. An SES spokesperson confirmed their Essendon and Brimbank units had been called to assist.<\/p>\n

Best-selling comic author Tom Taylor, who was attending the event, said event-goers were being directed away from Gate 2, the entrance used by exhibitors.<\/p>\n

He could see a severely damaged blue-grey sedan on the kerb, police tape and numerous police and security guards directing people from the area.<\/p>\n

The Supanova Comic Con and Gaming event \u2013 which was scheduled to run all weekend at Melbourne Showgrounds \u2013 describes itself as \u201cthe welcoming home of Australia\u2019s pop culture fandom\u201d.<\/p>\n

Guests at this year\u2019s convention include Lord of the Rings and Planet of the Apes star Andy Serkis, Buffy the Vampire Slayer star James Marsters, Stranger Things actor Jamie Campbell Bower and Harry Potter actress Bonnie Wright.<\/p>\n

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\"AngusAngus Delaney<\/a> is a reporter at The Age. Email him at angus.delaney@theage.com.au or contact him securely on Signal at angusdelaney.31Connect via email<\/a>.\"BiancaBianca Hall<\/a> is The Age’s environment and climate reporter, and has worked in a range of roles including as a senior writer, city editor, and in the federal politics bureau in Canberra.Connect via X<\/a>, Facebook<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated April 18, 2026 \u2014 8:11pm,first published 6:25pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":614839,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-614838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=614838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614838\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/614839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=614838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=614838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=614838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}