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MELBOURNE - A gunman calmly shot dead a bystander who intervened in a domestic dispute and then gunned down another man and a woman before escaping in a busy Melbourne street.
The killing of the "brave" 43-year-old Melbourne solicitor and the wounding of the two people - including the woman linked to the gunman - shocked city workers at rush hour and brought part of central Melbourne to a standstill.
A manhunt was under way last night for the gunman, who dumped his handgun at a nearby building site.
Police last night named him as Christopher Wayne Hudson, 29, but did not give any further details. The Nine Network said Hudson was a member of the Hell's Angels motorcycle gang who was shot during a violent brawl on Queensland's Gold Coast last year.
Last year, the Southport Magistrates Court was told Hudson had been shot twice - once in the jaw and once in the back - during a brawl at a kickboxing event. It was claimed the shooting was retribution for defecting from the Finks to the Hell's Angels bikie gang.
Yesterday an earlier altercation at a nightclub turned into a violent confrontation on the corner of Flinders Lane and William St at 8.15am (10.15am NZT) yesterday when two good Samaritans went to the aid of a woman being dragged from a taxi by her hair.
Without warning, her attacker pulled out a handgun and, at point blank range, blasted the two men in the upper body before shooting the woman.
Paramedics tried in vain for an hour to save the life of the solicitor. The second bystander, a man in his 30s, was in a critical condition last night with gunshot wounds to the upper body.
Detective Inspector Stephen Clark said the dead solicitor's last act "was one of extreme bravery".
"It's a tragic, tragic set of circumstances and it does appear as though he's been in the wrong place at the wrong time and has gone to the assistance of a female. It really strikes at the heart of all investigators to see somebody who's going about their daily life to be killed in such a tragic way."
The woman, believed to be a 24-year-old travel agent, suffered serious upper body gunshot wounds and was in a serious but stable condition.
Both the wounded were rushed to Royal Melbourne Hospital, where the woman's mother told news.com.au: "My daughter is up there fighting for her life. I just feel so sorry for the other family."
Eyewitness Zali Nash said the shooter was "as cool as a cucumber" as he shot his victims before fleeing on foot. "He just went bang, bang, bang, there was no mucking around.
"There were five shots fired and the people went straight down to the ground. There wasn't even a scream, just a whimper."
Despite an extensive search of the area, which was cordoned off by police, the gunman remained at large.
Eyewitness Ross Murchie said the shooter pulled his gun out after the two men tried to help the woman. "She was screaming and a guy had her by the hair," Murchie told ABC Radio. "She tried to grab hold of a taxi that was going by and the couple of bystanders went over to ask what was happening.
"He let go of her hair, pulled out a gun and shot them all."
Police appealed to the taxi driver, and other witnesses, to come forward.
Interstate authorities have been alerted to the suspect, who was last seen heading east on Flinders Lane.
Clark said the dramatic chain of events began 10 minutes before the shooting with an altercation at the Barcode nightclub in nearby King St, during which another woman was punched or kicked in the face. Police had not been able to establish what sparked that dispute, he said. The nightclub was sealed off as a crime scene and police were questioning a different man arrested there.
Inspector Glenn Weir said: "It does appear that there was a relationship between the female and the male suspect and certainly we're not looking that it's a random act, certainly not gang-related, it appears as though it's a domestic-related incident."
Clark said a police search of the area turned up a handgun and a black coat, both believed to belong to the gunman, at a building site in Bond St. "Whilst we can't confirm it was the same firearm used in the shooting, it's the same calibre," he said. A mobile phone found on Flinders Street was also being examined.
-AAP
