BANDIT OUTRAGE

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXVI, Issue 136, 25 May 1936, Page 9

BANDIT OUTRAGE

Melbourne Detective Held Up By Armed Men THREE SHOTS FIRED fßy Telegraph—Press Aasn.. Copyright.) MELBOURNE, May 24. Superintendent John O'Connell Brophy, who began duty as chief of the Victorian Criminal Investigation Branch a week ago, was shot in the face and right arm in some mysterious manner. The Police Department is exceedingly reticent. It is reported that four shots were fired by gangsters from a car, one bullet striking Mr Brophy’s cheek; another his right arm; a third the back of his neck and a fourth over the heart, but the latter bullet was deflected by something in his pocket. He is not in a serious condition. A Police Press Bureau official, in a statement, declared that Mr Brophy was accidentally shot in the right arm while handling his own pistol at Police Headquarters. Newspaper reporters, who were banned at the detective office, however, ascertained that Mr Brophy was shot by a hold-up gang who mistook him lor a prominent Melbourne bookmaker who habitually carries a large sum of money and resides at Parkville suburb. An official police statement made late to-day to the Press Association declares that Mr Brophy went to Royal Park on Friday night to try and catch car bandits who are operating in that locality and was himself held up by two armed men who apparently recognised him. They fired three shots before Mr Brophy manipulated his own revolver, which had jammed. One bullet passed through Mr Brophy’s lower jaw and just missed a vital artery. It emerged at the back of the neck. Another broke his right wrist and a third was deflected from his heart by his bracesbuckle.