OFF THE WIRE
A recent spate of shootings across Perth may reflect a deeper problem with organised crime in WA, Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan says.
There have been at least seven high-profile shootings in Perth this month, including three this week. And two murders in the past five months have involved firearms: the repeated shooting of Hamersley father and convicted drug dealer Mite Naumovski in late September and the driveway shooting death of 21-year-old student Jeremiah Iskander in Wanneroo last month.
Victims and witnesses in most of the cases have refused to help police.
"All these incidents are a concern and not just because there are individual people getting hurt but because it indicates there are broader organised crime issues and the reason we know that is because victims and witnesses are unco-operative," Mr O'Callaghan said.
Typically in the bikie world and other parts of the organised crime world, witnesses and victims will not co-operate."
In one incident this month, a 31-year-old man arrived at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital with a gunshot wound to the face. He told detectives he would not co-operate.
This week, two men were charged over unrelated shootings at Belmont and Singleton.
The Singleton incident, which left a 31-year-old man with a gunshot wound to the hand, led detectives to uncover a cache of guns, silencers, explosives, ammunition and other weapons.
Police figures show 641 guns were stolen from January 2010 to mid-November 2011 in 198 separate thefts.
More than half the thefts involved multiple firearms being stolen, including the theft of 79 paintball guns from a Carabooda skirmish centre in June 2010.
From January 2010 to mid-November, 78 unsecured firearms were stolen.
Mr O'Callaghan said he believed most of the guns used in recent shootings were unlicensed.
"There is movement of things like drugs and firearms across Australia by organised crime gangs," Mr O'Callaghan said.
"A lot of bikies are behind these movements.
"Our job is to make sure we keep disruptive pressure on these people so they can't keep on doing these things."
Mr O'Callaghan said there was always a possibility, however remote, that an innocent bystander could be shot.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/wa/12744111/gun-victims-won-t-talk-to-cops/