Up to five shots were fired at the offices of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) in Melbourne’s CBD in the early hours of the morning of the 21 December. Source: ABC News
Witnesses said the shots were fired into the Swanston Street building about 3:00am.
The bullets blasted through the front door, breaking a large glass window and causing significant damage.
A witness, who did not want to be identified, said the gunman fired the shots before driving off.
“I heard a bang. A male [was] holding a long gun. I saw it’s a hunting gun,” he said. “He shot like five times or something, [then] the driver just drove away.
“I was on the balcony. It was very loud.”
At this stage the motive for the shooting is unknown but CFMEU secretary John Setka said the list of suspects would be a long one.
“You don’t know what the reason is. Why they would’ve done it… I mean, you can imagine what sort of person did this,” he said.
He said “some moron” endangered all of Melbourne in what he called a “cowardly act”.
“We all have disputes. We all have our little squabbles here and there but you don’t resolve it using guns,” he said.
“We never have, so I don’t know why they’ve resorted to this.
“You’ve got that idiot element out there which we can never stop.”
Victoria Police Detective Sergeant Haydn Beale said they were reviewing CCTV footage in a bid to identify the gunman.
“The fact that someone’s determined to get out of a car and let off a firearm at a building is a pretty concerning and a dangerous thing to occur,” he said.
“The fact that it has happened in the city obviously where there could be a lot of people going to work is again a major concern as well.”
Mr Setka said the union had already beefed up security before the incident. No one was injured. The gunman remains at large.
