North West Metro Police: violence ‘not growing’ despite two recent homicides

Police are still investigating both incidents – one involving the discovery of 42-year-old Alan Taylor beaten to death in Girrawheen on April 22, the other concerning the murder of 23-year-old Mitchell Finnerty and wounding of two others in a Banksia Grove triple shooting on April 26.

Superintendent Paul Dallimore emphasised the deaths were unrelated.

He acknowledged the shooting of Mr Finnerty, and wounding of a father (53) and son (24), had attracted attention because of links to the Coffin Cheaters and Rebels outlaw motorcycle gangs.

But said there was no indication the tension between the two was going to spill out into the community. “The district is working with specialist areas, including gang crime and other areas to ensure the public safety in that area (Banksia Grove) and across the district is maintained,” he said.

While the recent incidents may startle local residents, Supt Dallimore said the investigations did not indicate an increasing issue of violence. Statistics showed reports of non-domestic assaults had steadily decreased since December.

Recent figures for the North West Metropolitan District showed 178 assault reports in December, which had fallen month-by-month to 137 in March. Reports had also decreased compared to last year. For January to the end of March, there were 486 assault reports in 2015 compared with 472 this year.

Anyone with information on the recent killings can contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.