I felt my whole body pushed forward. Man shot while driving on Gold Coast lucky to be alive
Richard Dinnen - Queensland Editor |
A family night out on the Gold Coast last weekend could have cost a couple and their son their lives.
The family was driving on Tweed Street on Saturday evening when they heard a massive bang. The 55-year-old man, who was in the front passenger seat, said he felt his body pushed forward.
“I thought my son (in the backseat) was playing around with his basketball and it had exploded behind my head and just pushed me forward.
“I saw a hole in the pillar, and I looked to the right and the window was shattered. I said ‘I think we’ve been shot’.
“Then I felt the back of my neck, and there was blood. I said ‘I’ve been hit’. I could feel blood trickling down my back.”
He was treated in hospital for minor injuries. He said doctors told him he had been ‘incredibly lucky’.
“I was looking down at my phone, following a GPS. If I was looking up, I wouldn’t be here. If my wife was leaning back in the seat just a little bit more, she wouldn’t be here.
“If we were going just a fraction faster, my son wouldn’t be here.”
The 51-year-old woman, who was driving, said the shooting is incomprehensible.
“I couldn’t understand that we could be shot driving through Coolangatta on a Saturday night.
“Mums and dads and 13-year-old kids don’t get shot in Coolangatta at twilight on Saturday. We were going bowling.”
The couple appealed for people to help police investigate the shooting. Police say anyone who witnessed the incident or something suspicious in the area shortly after 5pm on Saturday should contact them.
