2007 Melbourne Shooting

The 2007 Melbourne CBD shooting was an incident that occurred in the Central Business District of Melbourne, Victoria on 18 June 2007. Three people were shot, one fatally, by Christopher Wayne Hudson, 31, a member of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, who opened fire on two men and a woman during an argument on the corner of William Street and Flinders Lane at about 8:20 a.m. Hudson fled from the scene and went into hiding for two days, before turning himself in to police on 20 June 2007 in Wallan, north of Melbourne.

In May 2008, Hudson pleaded guilty to the murder of Brendan Keilar and was sentenced that September to life imprisonment with a minimum of 35 years before becoming eligible for parole.

Christopher Hudson was a full member of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, having defected from rival group The Finks in 2006. Shortly afterward, he was involved in a brawl between both clubs at a kickboxing tournament on the Gold Coast and was shot in the chin. In the days before the killing of Brendan Keilar, Hudson had fired at police in Campbellfield after a night of heavy drinking with Collingwood footballer Alan Didak. On 28 June, Didak was interviewed by police about this incident. Didak claimed that he was intoxicated at the time, was not in control of the situation and was concerned for his safety.

Hudson spent the night of 17 June 2007 drinking at the Spearmint Rhino in King Street. Early in the morning of 18 June, he assaulted stripper Autumn Daly-Holt, a workmate of his girlfriend, 24-year-old Kara Douglas. He then called Douglas, who arrived to pick him up around 7:30 a.m. Hudson dragged her out onto the street by her hair. At the corner of William Street and Flinders Lane, two male bystanders, 43-year-old solicitor Brendan Keilar and 25-year-old Dutch backpacker Paul de Waard attempted to assist Douglas. Hudson pulled a gun and shot all three. Keilar was fatally wounded in the head. de Waard and Douglas were shot in the upper body. Douglas later had a kidney removed as a result of her injuries. Douglas, from Sydney, had been staying in the Punt Hill apartments on Flinders Lane. Hudson fled the scene as Keilar died in the street, dumping his weapon and jacket in a nearby construction site on Flinders Street between Queen and Bond Streets, where they were found by a construction worker about an hour later. The Rialto Towers were evacuated amid reports that the gunman had fled into the tower, sparking a level-to-level search.