Baby lucky to be alive after grenade thrown at family home
A baby and four adults are lucky to be alive after a military hand grenade was thrown at a Melbourne home as part of a feud involving Middle Eastern organised crime figures.
Police said a Yugoslavian M52 hand grenade was hurled at the home in Yuonga Court, Lalor last November, causing significant shrapnel damage to the house, fence, and two parked cars.
“It could have been fatal. That’s what a grenade is designed to do,” Detective Sergeant Anthony Gasparini told reporters on Tuesday.
“We are extremely fortunate no one was injured, only property damage.”
Det Sgt Gasparini said police believe the incident is linked to a number of ongoing feuds between Middle Eastern organised crime groups.
“It does not just happen randomly, that a hand grenade is being thrown at your front door,” he said.
An image has been released of a man believed to have thrown the grenade and the car believed to be involved in the attack.
“We would like to obviously identify this individual so that we can link it back to a Middle Eastern organised crime syndicate and that’ll fill in a little bit more in relation to the feud,” Det Sgt Gasparini said.
“In general terms, when we are talking about Middle Eastern organised crime figures, it is about drug trade. There are a number of non-fatal shootings that have occurred.”
Det Sgt Gasparini said a man drove up to the house just before 2.30am on November 19, in a dark coloured Toyota Hilux before hurling the grenade and hiding behind a parked car to watch the explosion.
Witnesses saw the man flee, but he returned later, only to do a u-turn and leave again.
Police said the attack was not random and assured locals the investigation is ongoing.
“We are doing all we can to bring this person to justice,” Det Sgt Gasparini said.
“It is quite concerning organised crime entities do have their hands on this type of weapon.”
Det Sgt Gasparini said police are narrowing a long list of suspects and urged anyone – even those reluctant – to speak to police.
