Sydney: A police manhunt is underway for two people after a woman was shot dead in Australia’s state of Queensland.
The Queensland Police said in a statement on Sunday that they were called to a Railway Parade address at Caboolture, a town about 45 km north of Brisbane, at around 12.10 a.m. on Sunday, where they located the woman unconscious and unresponsive. She was declared dead later, reports Xinhua news agency.
Initial investigations indicate the 23-year-old woman was assaulted by two males and sustained a gunshot wound outside the Railway Parade property.
Detectives believe this is not a random attack and have launched a homicide investigation.
A spree of shooting incidents has occurred in different parts of the nation this month, raising safety concerns.
Earlier on December 20, one man died, and two more were injured after a shooting in Melbourne, the capital city of Australia’s state of Victoria.
Police officers were called to a property in Campbellfield, 15 km north of central Melbourne, at 10:10 p.m. local time following reports a man had been shot.
Upon arrival at the scene, officers found a 60-year-old man suffering from significant and life-threatening injuries.
He was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he died.
Victoria Police said in a statement that two men, aged 22 and 20, are under police guard in hospital.
The statement said that the two men came to police attention after being dropped off at the hospital with injuries and that they would be interviewed in relation to the shooting.
“At this stage, it is believed the incident was targeted, and the people involved are known to one another,” police said.
In another shooting incident on December 12, two teenagers were arrested after police believe they are linked to a crash, car fire and shooting in western Sydney.
Police in Australia’s state of New South Wales said in a statement that officers responded to reports of gunshots fired at a barbershop in Mount Druitt, about 40 kilometres west of central Sydney, at about 2:20 a.m. local time.
Upon arrival, police found several bullet holes in the shop’s window.
The shooting was reported shortly after officers arrested two 17-year-old teens at the site of a crashed vehicle in a neighbouring suburb.
The vehicle, which police said was stolen, had failed to comply with a police order to stop, triggering a pursuit that ended with the crash. The two teens were uninjured and arrested on the scene.
–IANS