Teen shot dead in Melbourne’s inner north near closed police station

A youth has died in a drive-by shooting metres from a closed police station in Melbourne’s inner north.

Police found a young male with life-threatening injuries near the corner of Brunswick and King William streets in Fitzroy just after midnight on Saturday.

Speaking to media on Saturday afternoon, Detective Acting Inspector Brett Meadows said an officer was inside the Fitzroy police station when he heard two gunshots.

“He went out to investigate and located a male on the footpath with head injuries consistent with a gunshot wound,” Meadows said.

The officer rendered first aid a minute after hearing the shots, Meadows said, but the youth died at the scene.

CCTV recorded two young people walking near the police station before shots were fired.

“We’ve got two persons walking down the street when shots are fired from a moving vehicle at those two persons,” Meadows said. “It certainly appears to be targeted.”

Meadows was unable to confirm the victim’s age nor where he was from as he had yet to be formally identified.

Investigators urged the person who was with the victim to come forward and said they were also looking for a white SUV.

Meadows would not speculate about a motive for the attack, but said he did not believe an open reception at the nearby police station would have prevented it.

“The two boys who go past the station don’t stop. They don’t try and go into the police station. They’re not trying to call for help. They’re seen going past twice,” Meadows said.

“There was a police member at the station at the time who heard the gunshots and came straight out and provided first aid and called for back up. So whether the station was open to the public or as it was closed to the public – but still had a member there – I can’t see it would have made any difference.”

Fitzroy police station was one of 43 posts across Victoria where reception hours were slashed in 2023 due to staff shortages. It was previously a 24-hour station, but its front desk now closes at 9.45pm from Friday to Sunday.

State Opposition Leader Jess Wilson attacked the state government’s management of police resources in light of Saturday’s homicide.

“This is another tragic and deeply concerning incident that has occurred within a stone’s throw of a closed police station,” she said.

A state government spokesperson hit back, saying it was a police decision to reduce station hours and get more officers on patrol. “The Liberals will take any opportunity to undermine and cut Victoria Police,” they said.

Later on Saturday, police revealed they had separately charged a 23-year-old man with murder after another incident in Fitzroy – on the other side of the Atherton Gardens public housing tower complex – just before Christmas.

The force said a 43-year-old man was found with stab wounds at a Napier Street address on December 22, but he died in hospital shortly after arrival. The accused in that case will appear in court on Monday.

Meanwhile, investigators taped off the shooting scene about 100 metres from Fitzroy police station early on Saturday morning as a crowd of onlookers gathered.

The family of the victim laid flowers at the scene on Saturday morning. Detectives were later seen going door to door at nearby properties. Volunteer chaplains arrived at the scene later in the morning to offer support.

An American university student who had just moved to Fitzroy, but asked to stay anonymous, said he heard the two gunshots before running over to see what had happened.

“I saw two cops working on a guy who was on the ground. They were doing CPR on him for a while.”

He was surprised to see how long it took for more police to arrive at the scene. “It was probably another 20 minutes or so before any other back-up arrived,” he said.

“The cops were questioning another kid, they looked like they were interrogating him for a while. Then more people showed up. I’ve felt safe here until now, I guess. I’m from San Francisco, so I know a gunshot sound.”

Long-time Fitzroy resident Uncle Crow said he believed the incident was “youth-related”.

“We’re a tight-knit community around here, and we will support [the family] the best way we can,” he said.

He criticised the decision to include Fitzroy in the list of stations with reduced hours.

“Sometimes it’s open, and sometimes it’s not,” he said. “This is Melbourne’s first suburb, and it was built on violence and crime. They can’t even keep a police station open with a history like that.”

Another man at the scene on Saturday, who told The Age he had been mugged in the area in the past, echoed calls to reintroduce 24-hour police station staffing. He said the popular nightlife strip should have a more visible police presence.

However, Meadows stressed he did not believe an open reception desk would have changed what happened early on Saturday.

“The Richmond police station is 3.5 kilometres away. It does have a permanent 24-hour police presence,” he said.

“It’s not really for me to comment on what resources we’ve got and what stations we can and can’t open. But on this occasion, there was a member there, and … the victim and his associate didn’t attend at the station. They didn’t call for assistance. So it wouldn’t make any difference.”

A Victoria Police spokesperson said the force approved reduced reception counter hours at 41 police stations statewide.

“We know the community is best served when police are out in the field detecting and deterring crime, not sitting behind a desk,” the spokesperson said.

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