Two people are fighting for their lives after a shooting outside a Melbourne nightclub, police said Sunday (April 14), amid a spate of gun violence in Australia’s second-largest city.
Police said four men were taken to hospital – two in a critical condition – after “multiple people were shot” outside the venue in the trendy inner-city suburb of Prahran early Sunday morning.
Three of the men were aged between 29 and 50, with the age of the fourth yet to be determined, police said.
A police spokeswoman told AFP the shooting was not believed to be linked to terrorism.
Three or four people shot outside Love Machine nightclub in Prahran at about 3.20am. Police yet to reveal further details including injuries and whether anyone is in custody. Malvern Road closes in both directions between Chapel Street and Surrey Road. @3AW693 pic.twitter.com/IE94U7pMAb
— Pat Mitchell (@patty_mitchell) April 13, 2019
Multiple people shot outside a nightclub Chapel Street (Prahran) about 3:20am. Injuries unknown. Police appealing for witnesses to come forward. @9NewsMelb @TheTodayShow pic.twitter.com/XvyMphUTMk
— Julian Price (@julianprice_) April 13, 2019
Prahran shooting update: two people in critical conditions in the Alfred Hospital, a third is in a stable condition. The footpath on Chapel St has just been closed due to trail of blood up to where one of the victims was found. @3AW693 pic.twitter.com/3JE7U6jQyQ
— Pat Mitchell (@patty_mitchell) April 13, 2019
Investigators were probing links to motorcycle gangs, The Age newspaper in Melbourne reported.
Police were expected to provide updates later Sunday.
The latest incident came after a spate of shootings in Melbourne in March that left five people dead in four separate incidents. Two of the incidents were believed to be gang-related.
Mass shootings are rare in Australia, which has strict gun laws introduced after 35 people were killed in 1996 at Port Arthur in Tasmania.
A murder-suicide last year which left seven members of a family dead in Western Australia was the country’s worst mass shooting since the Port Arthur case.
