Fatal shot fired from slow-moving car?

Press, 4 April 1985, Page 4

Fatal shot fired from slow-moving car?

The shot that killed a Christchurch gang associate in Ferry Road on Sunday evening was probably fired at close range from a slowmoving car, the police said yesterday. Graeme David Innes, aged 23, an associate of the Devil’s Henchmen gang, was found dead on the footpath soon afterwards.

The man heading the homicide inquiry, Detective Inspector Jim Millar, said yesterday that the police had made “significant advances” in the investigation.

Inquiries were now concentrated on tracing the older-model, light-coloured car from which the shot was fired.

Mr Millar said that more than one person was believed to have been in the car, which after the shooting probably turned left from Ferry Road into Hargood Street, left into Compton Street, and right into Tilford Street.

The police had received an excellent response from residents with information about the vehicle’s movements, but would still like

to hear from anyone who could help the inquiry. The incident began on Sunday evening with the shooting of another Devil’s Henchmen gang associate, Royce John Bartram, aged 23, outside the headquarters of the Highway 61 group, in Worcester Street.

Two motor-cycles are believed to have been outside the gang’s headquarters at the time of the shooting. Mr Bartram, who was shot in the hand, was later found slumped in the driveway of the headquarters of the Devil’s Henchmen gang, in Ferry Road. He was reported in a satisfactory condition at Burwood Hospital last even-

ing. Mr Millar said that police making inquiries had found no indication that retaliation would be sought for the shootings. He said, however, that this possibility could not be discounted.