Focarelli injured, son killed, in Adelaide shooting
Self-appointed Comanchero leader Vince Focarelli is recovering in hospital after being the target of a shooting late Sunday night in Adelaide, which claimed the life of his son.
South Australian police say Focarelli was driving for help after the shooting while injured, as his son, Giovanni, was in the back dying with gunshot wounds.
He then hailed down a police patrol car on Prospect Road, near the Prospect Village Shopping Centre at around 9pm.
Police say the pair were involved in the shooting at Flame Ave, in Dry Creek, in Adelaide's northern suburbs.
Focarelli's son, 22, was dead by the time ambulance crews arrived while his father, Vince Focarelli was taken to Royal Adelaide Hospital with up to four gunshot wounds, where he is now in a stable condition.
Police have declared the shooting a major crime.
Part of Prospect Rd was cordoned off while police examined the Focarellis' car, a blue Ford Falcon, with West Australian number plates.
About half an hour after the shooting a group of friends and family arrived and had to be restrained by police from entering the crime scene.
News Ltd said one woman had to be tackled by three officers.
A family friend has told 7News there will be retribution, over the murder of Focarelli's son.
A message posted by the New Boyz Support Crew on Facebook says much the same;
"WHY DO BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE?.. NO STONE WILL GO LEFT UN TURNED.. R.I.P. GIOVANNI."
Shots fired, then a scream
Residents of Flame Ave, say they heard shots fired and screaming just before nine o'clock last night.
One man told 7News he heard a car drive off after the shooting.
"It sounded like four gunshots, then we heard someone scream," he said.
"I heard it drive off, it was a burnout."
Another man told 7News he thought the shots were fireworks.
"It was just like ‘pop, pop, pop, pop’ that was it," he said.
"I just thought it was fireworks or something."
Staying silent
Detective Superintendent Grant Moyle, from the Major Crime branch, told reporters Mr Focarelli was refusing to help officers investigating his son's death.
"Detectives have spoken to Mr Focarelli at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, he has declined to provide us with any information that might assist us in identifying the offender," he said.
"That is the difficulty we face in these particular cases, the people that do know information are often reluctant to come forward and assist us in the investigation."
Premier Jay Weatherill called Vince Focarelli's attitude "inexplicable" as police urged legislators and the courts to help them penetrate the culture of violence, intimidation and silence.
"We have a young man who was murdered, and we have the father at that scene. It is, yes, inexplicable that person has chosen not to speak to police," Mr Weatherill said.
Police Commissioner Mal Hyde says Adelaide is safe, with only about 25 murders a year, but admits bikie gangs remain attractive to a few people with a taste for violence and crime.
Mr Hyde said police were worried about two streams of violence among bikies in South Australia.
The first was a feud between Focarelli and other Comanchero members.
The second was a feud between the Finks and Hells Angels following the shooting and wounding of Finks member Mark Sandery's 11-year-old son last year.
He said potential motives were being explored in the Focarelli shooting.
"We need legislation that can help us put them before the courts, and we need courts that can help us put them away," Mr Hyde said.
Courts were "very patchy" in sentencing for firearms offences, he said.
"The use of firearms is a key part of the culture and personality of bikie groups."
"Often you will see suspended sentences and good behaviour bonds. That doesn't take us very far at all to protecting the community."
Fourth attempt on Focarelli's life
Sunday night's shooting is not the first time Vince Focarelli has been targeted.
In December, he was shot in the leg after an altercation at Munno Para West, in Adelaide's northern suburbs.
He was also the intended target of a car bombing in 2010, and was also confronted by an alleged Hells Angels member with a shotgun in a supermarket at Sefton Park, later that year.
After the shooting at Munno Para West, Focarelli released a statement to the media, denying an internal dispute had split the Comancheros Adelaide chapter.
He also thanked hospital staff for the medical care he received.
But Adelaide lawyer Craig Caldicott, who has previously defended members of outlaw motorcycle gangs, said Focarelli's reputation as a Comanchero leader is being disputed in the bikie community.
"He may call himself a Comanchero, he may even dress up in a Comanchero outfit, but I have it from a fairly good source that he’s not a Comanchero,"
"He appears to have founded the New Boys group, seen to try and align themselves with the Comancheros."
"I have it on good authority that he’s not a Comanchero, never has been, never will be."
