A 17-year-old boy is fighting for his life in hospital, while another teenager has been seriously injured, after a shooting in inner Melbourne early on Friday.
Police responded to calls of shots being fired in Collingwood, near Collingwood college, at about 12.30am. Detectives believe the shooting followed a brawl involving about 50 young people and was a targeted attack.
Police claim the group, located nearby, had been involved in an incident an hour earlier at a nearby public housing estate, where a brawl had broken out.
Det Supt Jason Kelly said police located a 17-year-old with a serious gunshot wound, before he was treated by paramedics at the scene and transported to hospital.
He said a 15-year-old boy, who presented to hospital, was believed to have been linked to the same incident.
“It’s very lucky that 17-year-old is now alive,” Kelly said.
“The fact the homicide squad is not involved is pure luck”
Detectives from the armed crime squad are investigating the shooting and urging members of the public with information or dashcam footage, from 10.30pm to the early hours of Friday, to come forward.
Police believe the group were known to each other.
In a statement earlier, police they were continuing to patrol the area for public reassurance.