Alleged gunman surrenders

Police officers were called to Minden yesterday after reports of shots being fired at a man in the area.

David Nielsen

POLICE converged on a small town outside Ipswich yesterday after startling reports of a gun being fired at a man.

Residents of Minden, about 25km west of Ipswich, went into lockdown as word spread that a gunman was on the loose.

The incident centred on a farmhouse about a kilometre from the Minden crossroads.

When police arrived, a man told them that when he approached another man chopping wood and asked what he was doing, the other man fired a pistol at him.

Police quickly cordoned off the area, keeping traffic away and ordering residents to stay inside while they looked for the shooter.

Witnesses reported seeing the man running away but people nearby were in a state of confusion.

Barbara Frohloff, the part-owner of Barb’s Kitchen near the crossroads, was stunned to learn an armed gunman was outside her popular takeaway.

“We were in lockdown with our customers and staff locked inside the shop,” Mrs Frohloff said.

“No-one was allowed out and no-one was allowed in. There were police cars everywhere.”

Mrs Frohloff said she knew the gunman and he regularly stopped in at her store.

A long-time resident, who did not want to give his name, said he had been visiting his son at Minden when he heard news of the shooting

“It is the last thing I would expect to happen around here,” the man said.

“Normally it is pretty peaceful. The most that happens around here are car accidents.”

Less than five minutes away from the incident on Tallegalla Road, Minden Produce Barn depot manager Ben Robinson took news of the shooting in his stride.

“You just never really know who’s about do you?” he said.

Another local couple, who also did not want their names published, said it was lucky the shooting had happened in such a quiet area.

“It is lucky there were not more people about,” he said.

“It also made it harder for the police to find him because apparently he has lived in the area for a while and knows the bush pretty well.”

He said the first they had heard of the incident was when they arrived at Barb’s Kitchen to buy milk.

“We’ve only been here eight weeks,” he said. “We just moved here from Brisbane. This is the kind of thing you would think would happen there, not out here.”

Police said the man surrendered to police and he was taken into custody.

Last night he was being questioned by police but had not been charged.