Man shot aunty dead in Brisbane’s north while mum was at the property, police say

A man fatally shot his aunt at a house in Brisbane’s north on Sunday while his mum was at the property, police say. 

Officers were called to a Jambaroo Street property at Albany Creek about 5:30pm, where the bodies of Martin Fowler and his 77-year-old aunt Lois Witt were found.

Detective Acting Superintendent Craig Williams said the 46-year-old was a registered firearms licence holder and discharged “a number of shots”, killing the woman and himself.

He said an 88-year-old woman, Mr Fowler’s mum, was also at the property, but was not harmed in the “tragic incident”.

“So far investigations revealed that the male person was the son of the unharmed female in the house, he was a 46-year-old male and the deceased female was his aunty,” Acting Superintendent Williams said.

Acting Superintendent Williams said police attended the address and “had dealings with both parties in the preceding week”.

A crime scene has been established and a report will be prepared for the coroner.

Police are encouraging anyone who may have seen or heard anything in the vicinity of Jambaroo Street to come forward.

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Firearms, licence to form part of investigation

Queensland Police Commissioner Steve Gollschewski described the incident as “absolutely tragic and truly horrendous”.

He said an investigation was underway with oversight from the coroner.  

“We will be looking at everything including how it has been dealt with previously by police, the aspects of his firearms license [and] the firearms, I understand there is more than one firearm,” he said.

“What we will have to look at is what’s happened in this particular instance, in the vast majority of instances people that own firearm licences there are no issues, so we need to look at this in the context of what happened.”

Police Minister Mark Ryan said he had full confidence in the police investigation. 

“The legislation is very strong when it comes to these matters, but obviously there is an investigation that needs to take place and if any changes need to be made the government is open to making those changes,” he said.