2010 Darwin shopping mall bombing

February 2010 Darwin Shopping Mall Bombing

Mitchell St, Darwin, close to where the explosion took place.
Location Darwin, Australia
Date 3 February 2010
11.00AM – (UTC+9:30)
Target Territory Insurance Office
Attack type
 Bombing
Deaths 0
Non-fatal injuries
 19 [1]

The 2010 Darwin Shopping Centre Bombing was an incident which occurred on 3 February 2010 at the CBD Plaza shopping centre, located in the Darwin CBD. 19 people were wounded, including a Police Officer.[2]

Bombing

In the lead up to the bombing, it is believed the suspect had made several threats to the office, and as a result security had been stepped up at the office.[3]

The incident occurred at approximately 11:00am local time, when a dissatisfied customer of the local branch of Territory Insurance pushed a shopping trolley loaded with petrol cans, and fireworks into the building.[4] where it then detonated, wounding many inside in the Bank. The wounded were taken by ambulance to nearby Royal Darwin Hospital.[5] The streets around the area, as well as the shopping mall which also contained a Woolworths outlet, were closed down while Emergency Services attended the scene.[6] Soon after the incident a local man handed himself into Police.

Despite the obvious shock and horror of the incident, many nearby civilians and passers-by rushed to the scene to help those who had been wounded in the blast. Northern Territory Police Commander Rob Kendrick praised those who ignored their own safety to aid those in need saying

"I have heard that persons shopping in the vicinity did provide assistance.

"Those persons are to be congratulated and I certainly applaud their actions."

[7]

Aftermath

Paul Wayne Clarke, 44, who had formally changed his name to Bird, handed himself into Police soon after the bombing[8] and has been charged with at least 9 counts of attempted murder, Setting fire to a building, Intending serious harm by causing explosion, as well as recklessly endangering life. He was refused bail and appeared at Darwin Magistrates Court on 5 February[9] On 30 April, he reappeared in court via video link from Berrimah prison.[10] Bird hanged himself while on remand at Darwin Correctional Centre and died around 1.20pm on 20 January 2011 at Royal Darwin Hospital, at the age of 46.[11]

References

  1. ↑ "TIO to close bombed office". NT News. 14 May 2010.
  2. ↑ "Darwin shop complex blast injures 15". The Australian. 3 February 2010.
  3. ↑ "Blast injures 15 in Darwin bank". Sydney Morning Herald. 3 February 2010.
  4. ↑ "13 injured in a blast at shopping center in Oz". Indian Express. 3 February 2010.
  5. ↑ "Blast injures 15 in Darwin bank". Sydney Morning Herald. 3 February 2010.
  6. ↑ "Fifteen people injured after man wheels trolley bomb into building". WA Today. 3 February 2010.
  7. ↑ "Bystanders turn heroes". NT News. 3 February 2010.
  8. ↑ "Trolley bomber an 'unhappy customer', say cops". NT News. 3 February 2010.
  9. ↑ "Charges laid over Darwin insurance office bombing". Daily Telegraph. 5 February 2010.
  10. ↑ "Alleged TIO bomber 'Bird' in court". NT News. 30 April 2010.
  11. ↑ "Inquest into the death of Bird [2011] NTMC 050" (PDF). 30 April 2010.

See also

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 1/12/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.