POLICE CHIEF SHOT

Greymouth Evening Star, 25 May 1936, Page 7

POLICE CHIEF SHOT

MELBO’NE GANGSTERS’ VICTIM MISTAKEN FOR “BOOKIE”? [BY CABLE —PRESS ASSN. —COPYRIGHT.] MELBOURNE, May 24/ Superintendent John O’Connell Brophy, who began as Chief of the Victorian Criminal Investigation Branch a week ago, has been shot in the face and in the right arm, in some mysterious manner. The police are exceedingly reticent. It is reported that four shots were fired by gangsters from a car, one bullet striking Supt. Brophy’s check, and another his right arm, while a third hit him in the back of the neck, and a fourth over the heart, but was deflected by something in his pocket. He is not in a serious condition. The Police Press Bureau, in an official statement, declared Superintendent Brophy was accidentally shot in the right arm while handling his own pistol at the Police Headquarters. Newspaper reporters, who have been banned at the Detective Office, were able, however, to ascertain that Superintendent Brophy was shot by a “hold-up” gang, and that the gang mistook him for a prominent Melbourne bookmaker, who habitually carries a large sum of money and resides in the suburb of Parkville.

A LUCKY ESCAPE.. (Recd. May 25, 8 a.m.) MELBOURNE, May 24. An official police statement declares that Brophy went to Royal Park on Friday night to try to catch car bandits. who were operating in that locality, and was himself held up by two armed men, who apparently recognised him. They fired three shots before Brophy could manipulate his own revolver, which jammed. One bullet passed through Brophy’s lower jaw and just missed a vital artery and emerged from the back of the neck. Another broke his right wrist. A third was deflected from his heart by his braces buckle. TAXI-DRIVERS ROBBED. (Recd. May 25, 8 a.m.) SYDNEY, May 22. There has been an epidemic of holdups of taxi-drivers in Sydney in recent months. The position is so menacing that drivers are seeking permission to carry firearms. Two more were robbed last night by armed men, who commandeered their cars and compelled the drivers to ride in the rear seat to lonely parts, where they relieved them of money. The police to-night arrested two men suspected of this class of crime.