Shot near sleeping child

Press, 27 December 1979, Page 1

Shot near sleeping child

A bullet narrowly missed a young child when two Mongrel Mob houses were shot at in Christchurch early yesterday. Another bullet struck a power pole near members of the gang who had been standing outside their house.

The police believe both shootings were part of a feud between Christchurch’s Black Power gang and the Mongrel Mob.

Several houses were raided by the police after the shootings. Crime-control squad detectives worked on the case throughout yesterday, but no arrest had been made by last evening. The first attack came about 12.20 a.m. when a small car, believed to be a dark-red Toyota Corolla, stopped outside a Mongrel Mob house at 46 Shakespeare Road, Waltham.

An occupant of the car fired into a Mark 111 Zephyr car that was parked near the house. The bullet shattered the windscreen and rear window, and ricocheted into the house, narrowly missing a child sleeping in a front room. At 12.30 a.m. a shot was fired at a group standing outside a Mongrel Mob house at 495 Cashel Street. The bullet struck a power pole.

The police have taken possession of a car matching the description of the one used in the shootings, and have interviewed a number of gang members, according to Detective Sergeant D. Porteous. He said the police were keen to hear from anyone who saw the car in Shakespeare Road or Cashel Street about the time of the incidents.