ATTENDANT SHOT

Taranaki Daily News, 2 April 1934, Page 4

ATTENDANT SHOT

MASKED MEN ROB GARAGE OUTRAGE IN AUCKLAND CITY CAREFUL, PLANS APPARENT RIFLE FIRED DELIBERATELY By Telegraph-Press Association. Auckland, Last Night

A masked man shot the night attendant at W. S. Miller’s garage in Khyber Pass Road about 3.30 o’clock this morning, while his companion, also masked, rifled the till of about £25. The two men escaped in a motor-car and had not been traced late this afternoon. Th* victim of the outrage, Bernard Walter de Laurier, aged 22, was shot in the upper part of the right arm. He wax not injured seriously and was able to leave the hospital after receiving treatment

The affair had evidently been carefully planned. De Laurier, who was on duty by himself, was sweeping out the garage about 3.30 a.m. when a motor-car drove in'. ’Two masked men alighted, and before de Laurier could defend himself the taller of the two threw him to th* ground, bound his legs and gagged him. The shorter man was carrying a .22 calibre light sporting rifle, and with this he covered the prostrate man. The taller of the two men ordered' de Laurier to roll over, and he attempted to move so as to bring the taller man between himself and the man with the rifle. Before he could accomplish his purpose, however, the shorter man evidently guessed his intention, as he took deliberate aim and fired a bullet which passed through the attendant’s right arm. The attendant was then roughly rolled over so that he lay face downward and his wrists were bound tightly behind his back. He was lying in such a position that the cars parked in the garage screened him from the view of anyone passing.. Leaving, their victim, the two meir rifled the till of its entire contents and made off in their car.

Barely a minute after the car had left the garage another machine entered. The driver sounded his horn several times to attract the attendant, not knowing that de Laurier was lying wounded and gagged only a few feet away. Failing to rouse anybody, he drove off. It was not until nearly 4 o’clock that another member of the garage staff, who had been to a cabaret, called at th® garage on his way home. He immediately missed the attendant and commenced a search of the premises. Th* wounded man was located lying near the office door. He was promptly unbound and told his story.

DESCRIPTION OF WANTED MEN. ADVICE RECEIVED BY THE POLICE. The descriptions of the two men forwarded to the police at New Plymouth yesterday were: (1) About 30 yean of age, sft. ’ Sin. in height, wearing a cap and khaki military overcoat; (2) about 30 years, sft. 7in. in height, wearing dark tweed cap and military overcoat dyed blue. The men are believed to have used a three-seater model A Ford of a dirty green colour, with a grey speckled hood. It had.* weak,, defective tail light, but its number was ’not known. A Chevrolet car, No. 93-449, is believed to be the one which drove into the garage after the hbld-up. The police believe’that the driver of the-car niay have taken some note of the masked men or their car as he was driving into Miller's garage.