The 2007 Melbourne CBD shooting was an incident that occurred in the

Melbourne central business district The Melbourne central business district (also known colloquially as simply "The City" or "The CBD") is the city centre and main urban area of the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, centred on the Hoddle Grid, the oldest part of the city la ...

, Australia on 18 June 2007. Three people were shot, one fatally, by Christopher Wayne Hudson, 31, a member of the

Hells Angels The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) is a worldwide outlaw motorcycle club whose members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles. In the United States and Canada, the Hells Angels are incorporated as the Hells Angels Motorcycle Corporatio ...

Motorcycle Club, who opened fire on two men and a woman during an argument on the corner of William Street and

Flinders Lane Flinders Lane is a minor street and thoroughfare in the central business district of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The laneway runs east–west from Spring Street to Spencer Street in-between Flinders and Collins Streets. Originally laid ou ...

at about 8:20 a.m. Hudson fled from the scene and went into hiding for two days, before turning himself in to police on 20 June 2007 in

Wallan Wallan , traditionally known as Wallan Wallan (large circular place of water), is a town in Victoria, north of Melbourne's Central Business District. The town sits at the southern end of the large and diverse Shire of Mitchell which extends f ...

, north of Melbourne. In May 2008, Hudson pleaded guilty to the

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

of Brendan Keilar and was sentenced that September to life imprisonment with a minimum of 35 years before becoming eligible for parole.

Christopher Hudson

Christopher Hudson was a full member of the

Motorcycle Club, having defected from rival group

The Finks The Finks is an Australian outlaw motorcycle club that was formed in Sydney, Australia, in 1969 and now also has chapters in other states. The name comes from ''The Wizard of Id'' cartoon where the peasants, to his dismay, often proclaim, "The ...

in 2006. Shortly afterward, he was involved in a

kickboxing Kickboxing is a combat sports, combat sport focused on kicking and punch (strike), punching. The combat takes place in a boxing ring, normally with boxing gloves, mouthguards, shorts, and bare feet to favour the use of kicks. Kickboxing is pract ...

tournament on the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

and was shot in the chin. In the days before the killing of Brendan Keilar, Hudson had fired at police in

Campbellfield Campbellfield is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Hume local government area. Campbellfield recorded a population of 4,977 at the 2021 census. History Ca ...

after a night of car driving with Collingwood footballer

Alan Didak Alan Didak (born 15 February 1983) is a former professional Australian rules footballer of Croatian descent who played for the Collingwood Football Club in the Australian Football League. Didak was a fan favourite and legend of the club, known ...

. On 28 June, Didak was interviewed by police about this incident. Didak claimed that he was intoxicated at the time, was not in control of the situation and was concerned for his safety.

The shootings

Hudson spent the night of 17 June 2007 drinking at the

Spearmint Rhino Spearmint Rhino is a chain of strip clubs that operates venues throughout the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia. The first Spearmint Rhino was located in Upland, California. Operations John Gray is the founder & CEO of Spearmint ...

in King Street. Early in the morning of 18 June, he assaulted

stripper A stripper or exotic dancer is a person whose occupation involves performing striptease in a public adult entertainment venue such as a strip club. At times, a stripper may be hired to perform at a bachelor party or other private event. M ...

Autumn Daly-Holt, a workmate of his girlfriend, 24-year-old Kara Douglas. He then called Douglas, who arrived to pick him up around 7:30 a.m. Hudson dragged her out onto the street by her hair. At the corner of William Street and Flinders Lane, two male bystanders, 43-year-old

solicitor A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...

Brendan Keilar and 25-year-old

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

backpacker Paul de Waard attempted to assist Douglas. Hudson pulled a gun and shot all three. Keilar was fatally wounded in the head. De Waard and Douglas were shot in the upper body. Douglas later had a kidney removed as a result of her injuries. Douglas, from Sydney, had been staying in the Punt Hill apartments on Flinders Lane. Hudson fled the scene as Keilar died in the street, dumping his weapon and jacket in a nearby construction site on Flinders Street between

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

and Bond Streets, where they were found by a construction worker about an hour later. The

Rialto Towers Rialto (often The Rialto, or Rialto Towers) is a skyscraper located at 525 Collins Street, in the western side of the central business district of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was the tallest office building in the Southern Hemisphere w ...

were evacuated amid reports that the gunman had fled into the tower, sparking a level-to-level search. His car was discovered abandoned on Flinders Lane between Swanston and Elizabeth Streets. The black Honda CRV with New South Wales registration plates was revealed to be one vehicle owned by the gunman. His other vehicle was a black

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...

sedan, later found in

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

. Still high from a drug binge, Hudson fled to a Hells Angels safehouse north of the city. At 5:00 p.m. on 20 June, he surrendered himself to Victorian Police at

, walking into the police station without incident. Homicide squad detectives transferred him to Melbourne where he was charged with

and other offences in an out-of-court hearing.

Aftermath and trial

Hudson was to appear in the

Melbourne Magistrates' Court The Melbourne Magistrates' Court is the largest venue at which the Magistrates' Court of Victoria sits. It is a court in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia that deals with, and dispenses of, a range of criminal and civil matters, including crimin ...

, but was unable to make it due to an injury to his forearm that required surgery. The magistrate ordered that Hudson be remanded into custody. The formal charges were: one charge of murder in relation to Brendan Keilar, two charges of attempted murder in relation to Kara Douglas and Paul de Waard, one charge of intentionally causing serious injury in relation to Autumn Daly-Holt and one charge of

unlawful imprisonment False imprisonment or unlawful imprisonment occurs when a person intentionally restricts another person’s movement within any area without legal authority, justification, or the restrained person's permission. Actual physical restraint is ...

. He was later also charged with nine offences in relation to the shooting incident involving Collingwood Magpies player Alan Didak. In May 2009, allegations came to light that Hudson had been tortured by members of the Hells Angels for bringing unwanted police attention to the group. The claimant alleges a club tattoo was burned from his forearm with a

blowtorch A blowtorch, also referred to as a blowlamp, is an ambient air fuel-burning gas lamp used for applying flame and heat to various applications, usually metalworking. Early blowtorches used liquid fuel, carried in a refillable reservoir attache ...

before he surrendered to police. The story arose after police raided the Angels' clubhouse in Sydney and took possession of a

Harley-Davidson Harley-Davidson, Inc. (H-D, or simply Harley) is an American motorcycle manufacturer headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1903, it is one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depressi ...

motorcycle apparently owned by Hudson. This story was denied by Victoria Police and was further discredited when Hudson's stepmother sent a recent photograph, clearly showing the club tattoo, to the ABC program '' Media Watch''. Paul de Waard returned to the Netherlands to recover from his injuries. In October 2007, he revealed on a television interview that he was still undergoing extensive rehabilitation. He also made an appearance on the Dutch television show '' In de schaduw van het nieuws'' (''In the shadow of the news'') on 21 November 2009.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Melbourne CBD Shootings Murder in Melbourne

Shootings Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, Bow and arrow, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or Blowgun, blowpipe). Even the acts of launching Flamethrower, flame, artillery, Dart (missile), darts, ha ...

Deaths by firearm in Victoria (state) Hells Angels Organised crime events in Australia 2000s in Melbourne 2007 murders in Australia