POLICE fear someone could die after a gang of thugs armed with slingshots continued their drive-by rampage across the city yesterday.
Firing marbles from cars, the thugs have now shot a pedestrian after previously targeting cars, homes, businesses and phone boxes.
Cops have warned someone could be seriously injured or worse if the gang is not stopped.
"It’s bloody dangerous," Cairns police acting Insp Mick Dowie told The Cairns Post. "If they hit someone they could kill them."
A pedestrian hit by one of the projectiles told police yesterday she was lucky not to have been seriously injured.
"It was lucky it hit me in the hip and not in the head or the eye," the woman said.
Mooroobool resident Elaine Kerr said cars parked at her home were shot at with marbles on Wednesday night.
"You should be able to feel safe," she said.
"You just don’t know when they’re going to come along."
Ms Kerr said she was worried if the thugs weren’t caught, they could cause injury or death.
"I am starting to be a bit more concerned now because while it started off slow, it’s gotten a lot worse," she said.
"It’s like they’re on a rampage."
Acting Insp Dowie said in the past two days, nine incidents of wilful damage by slingshot had been reported, while 30 to 40 incidents had been reported since the beginning of April.
"As you can imagine it’s running into a rather large damage bill," he said.
"This type of offending is very hard to detect so what we’re doing is appealing to the members of the public. Someone’s going to know who’s committing these offences."
Acting Insp Dowie said a
reward would be offered to anyone who gave police information that led to an arrest.
"We’re just saying to people if you do contact us through Crime Stoppers or directly through the Cairns police station, you are eligible for an award, and we will ensure that that occurs if you can help us solve this offending," he said.
Anyone with information on the offences can contact Cairns police on 4030 7000 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
