Cars on CCTV may help solve bikie murder

Kellee Nolan
November 14, 2008 .

Victoria Police are investigating whether a fatal shooting outside the Bandidos Motorcycle Gang clubhouse last month may have been the work of a rival gang or an inside job by other Bandidos members.

Police now have CCTV footage of the shooting at Geelong, south-west of Melbourne, and it shows two vehicles.

Bandidos gang member Ross Brand, 51, was shot dead and another man was seriously injured in the incident outside the Bandidos clubhouse in the Geelong suburb of Breakwater on October 22, about 6.10pm (AEDT).

Homicide squad Detective Inspector Steve Clark on Friday said police believed the shots were fired from a white Toyota Hilux dual-cab utility truck.

A second vehicle, a white Hyundai Terracan station wagon, could be seen outside the clubhouse 10 minutes earlier.

He said police had footage of both men being shot.

"We have looked at vision of the shooting," Det Insp Clark said.

"Both of those vehicles are an integral part of our investigation and I would urge anybody who may have any information in relation to the location of the vehicles, or the occupants of the vehicles on the night in question, to contact Crime Stoppers," he told reporters.

Det Insp Clark said the footage showed the Hyundai station wagon drive in from the left-hand side of the screen and leave about 10 minutes before the Toyota Hilux also drove in from the left and the shooting occurred.

He said police were following up a number of angles, including the possible involvement of the rival Rebels Motorcycle Club.

"There has been a history between the Bandidos outlaw motorcycle gang and the Rebels, clearly that's one avenue of inquiry that we're looking at, but it's not the only one," he said.

He said police also were investigating if the shooting was part of a power struggle within the Bandidos.

"I'm not aware of the internal politics of that group, but clearly it's a part of the investigation, we're looking at the Bandidos motorcycle gang," he said.

Det Insp Clark would not say where the CCTV footage of the shooting came from, but said it had been in police possession for "a couple of weeks".

"There are a number of CCTV cameras in and around that area and we're going through all of that as we speak," he said.

He did not say how many people were in each of the two vehicles, or whether they were male or female, but said there was more than one person in each.

"We've identified the make and model of the vehicles, we believe that there was more than one occupant in each vehicle, I don't really want to speculate any further than that."

The man injured in the shooting is now recovering out of hospital and has spoken with police.

He said people could contact Crime Stoppers anonymously, and police could discuss witness protection options with anyone who came forward with information