Hunt on for 2 perpetrators who shot teen in Melbourne

Melbourne, Sep 13

A search operation is currently underway for at least two perpetrators in connection to the shooting of teenage boy in the Australian city of Melbourne while he was sleeping in his home, police said on Wednesday.

According to Victoria Police, emergency services were called to a residence at Janmara Court in Endeavour Hills, a suburb in Melbourne's southeast, following reports that a teenage boy has been injured in a shooting at about 1.20 a.m. on Wednesday, reports Xinhua news agency.

Detectives believed that a number of shots were fired from the road or footpath towards the home when the 17-year-old was sleeping.

The injured boy has been taken to hospital in a stable condition with non-life-threatening wounds.

Other family members in the home, namely a 56-year-old man, a 46-year-old woman, a 26-year-old woman and an 11-year-old girl, were not physically hurt.

At around 4 a.m, a burnt car was also found about 10 km away from the Janmara Court house, which was believed to be the getaway vehicle linked to the shooting.

At an early stage of the investigation, police regarded the shooting as a targeted incident.

"The CCTV we collected so far and some witnesses in the street at the time have said the vehicle has done a couple of laps of the court and then specifically stopped outside that address, and got out at that address, and fired shots at that address. No other houses or cars were impacted by rounds fired by the offenders," said Victoria Police Detective Acting Inspector Al Hanson.

But he told local media that no one in the address at that time was the intended target.

"Two rounds have been fired through the window," the officer noted, unable to confirm how many shots struck the teen.

Police had no information to suggest any links to gangs or other criminal activity.

"We believe at least two people involved," said Hanson.