Three Women Wounded In Shooting In Bar

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28263, 29 April 1957, Page 8

Three Women Wounded In Shooting In Bar

(New Zealand Press Association)

BLENHEIM, April 28.

Two women are in Wairau Hospital, Blenheim, as a result of a shooting incident in a hotel bar at Picton late yesterday afternoon. Their condition is satisfactory. A third woman was wounded, but after treatment was allowed to go home.

An elderly Picton man is in custody at Blenheim police station and will appear in the Magistrate’s Court at Blenheim tomorrow.

The injured women are: Mrs Louisa White, aged 46, of Picton, an employee of the Federal Hotel; Miss Leia Coghlan, aged 20, of Nelson, also an employee of the hotel; and Mrs Bessie Stammers, of Picton.

The incident occurred at 5.45 p.m. An elderly man carrying a .22 rifle hidden under his sports coat entered the bar by a back door. He is said to have fired two shots from the hip. The first shot hit Mrs White,

who was sitting at the bar about 12 feet away. The bullet entered her chest from the side, and the second shot hit Miss Coghlan in the left hand. Two persons in the bar rushed the man with the rifle and, in the scuffle, it went off again. This time the bullet grazed Mrs Stammers’s left wrist.

The man was then held until the arrival of two constables. The injured women were attended by Dr. J. D. Buckner, of Picton.