Details
At around 4:20 pm Frank Vitkovic entered the building at 191 Queen Street, Melbourne, carrying a sawn-off M1 carbine in a brown paper bag.
Vitkovic proceeded to the fifth floor office of the Telecom Employees Credit Co-operative where a former friend, Con Margelis, worked. Margelis was called to the counter and briefly spoke with Vitkovic. Vitkovic then pulled his weapon from the bag. Margelis ducked behind a counter; Vitkovic began firing, killing a young female office worker, Judith Morris. A robbery alarm was activated by a staff member at 4.22 pm. Margelis escaped the office unharmed, and hid in the female toilets. Vitkovic then took an elevator to the 12th floor, to the Australia Post philately security section. There, Vitkovic shot and injured a man and a woman, pointed his gun at a woman sitting at her desk, only to pan his aim to the left and shoot dead Julie McBean and Nancy Avignone. A man in the corner office on this level, Warren Spencer, also died.
Vitkovic then ran down the stairs to level 11, firing indiscriminately. Vitkovic stormed into the computer training centre, shooting Michael McGuire at point blank range, killing him. Vitkovic then moved to the north-east corner of the office floor, cornering several office workers at their desks. Marianne Van Ewyk, Catherine Dowling and Rodney Brown were fatally shot in this area, some while hiding under their desks. Three other workers were wounded here. Several victims were shot in the head at very close range as they attempted to hide. A male office worker, Donald McElroy (who had been shot once), and Tony Gioia tackled Vitkovic, while Frank Carmody, who had been shot several times, wrestled the rifle from him. Gioa and Carmody were later awarded Australia's second-highest bravery decoration, the Star of Courage.A wounded female worker, Rosemary Spiteri, took the rifle and hid it in a refrigerator.
Vitkovic climbed through an open window, apparently trying to clamber on to an external ledge of the building. Gioia held him by the ankles, trying to prevent his escape. Vitkovic kicked free and fell to his death on the pavement below.
No-one died in the building's lifts, and Vitkovic did not fire at police or into the street. One bullet pierced a window on the 11th floor. It was believed that around 1,000 people were in the building at the time of the shootings. After the killer's fall, police and members of the special operations group searched the building for accomplices.
Vitkovic had fallen at 4.27 pm; police started their search of the building at 4.30 pm. At 5.00 pm the Special Operations Group confirmed that the dead man on the street was the gunman, and the all clear was given for ambulance officers to enter the building to attend to the injured.
Read more about this topic: Queen Street Massacre
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