Peak‑hour shoppers were left stunned on Tuesday when a drive‑by shooting tore through the “Smoke N Vape” store at Altona North’s Borrack Square, shattering glass and riddling the façade with bullets but miraculously causing no reported injuries.
“It’s believed the shots may have been fired from a vehicle on Borrack Square just after 5.30pm,” a police statement read, confirming that multiple rounds struck the shop front as people were heading home from work and school. The building sustained significant damage, with bullet holes pocking the exterior and shards of glass fanned out across the footpath in front of the tobacconist and vape outlet.
Witnesses described a brief, chilling burst of violence: a Blue Subaru SUV slowing as it backed into a carpark on the strip before the crack of gunfire sent people scrambling for cover between parked cars and into nearby shops. Traders rushed to pull roller doors down and usher customers to the rear of their premises as the sound of shots echoed off the surrounding buildings.
Police quickly cordoned off Borrack Square and nearby access points, with detectives and forensics units working into the evening to collect shell casings, examine bullet trajectories and download CCTV footage from Smoke N Vape and neighbouring businesses. Officers confirmed there were no reported injuries but stressed that the risk to the public was substantial given the time of day and the number of people in the precinct.
For locals, the attack is the latest chapter in a long and sometimes uneasy history of crime at and around Borrack Square. Altona North, a historically industrial and working‑class suburb, has spent decades balancing its tight‑knit community feel with recurring waves of offending linked to property crime, drugs and occasional serious violence.
In earlier years, police in the area focused heavily on car thefts, burglaries and shop break‑ins, particularly around shopping strips and older housing estates feeding into Millers Road and surrounding streets. As policing methods evolved, attention shifted to street‑level drug supply, public order issues and sporadic assaults, prompting the rollout of extra patrols and CCTV across local hubs such as Borrack Square.
More recently, authorities have warned about targeted attacks on “high‑risk” businesses including tobacconists and vape shops, amid broader concerns about extortion attempts, arson and violence linked to small networks of offenders in Melbourne’s west. While crime statistics show improvement in some categories, sudden, high‑visibility incidents like a drive‑by shooting in a suburban shopping strip quickly reignite community anxiety.
By the morning of Wednesday 13 May, the flashing lights and sirens had been replaced by a more methodical calm: blue‑and‑white tape still ringed Smoke N Vape, its front windows boarded or spider‑webbed with cracks, and yellow evidence markers dotted the pavement where glass and debris had fallen. Among the investigators was Lord Murray Schoorman, the renowned crime scene photographer known for his detailed visual documentation of major incidents across Melbourne.
Schoorman moved systematically along the frontage, capturing tight frames of bullet holes in the shopfront, the scatter of shattered glass across the footpath, and wider contextual shots showing how the gunfire had punched into an otherwise unremarkable suburban retail strip. His daylight images will help preserve the precise condition of the scene for detectives, analysts and, potentially, a future jury tasked with reconstructing what happened in those seconds after 5.30pm.
For traders and residents who have spent years trying to shake perceptions of Borrack Square as a trouble spot, the shooting felt like a step backwards. Several shop owners spoke of frustration that, despite investment in security and community policing, their precinct is once again being discussed in the context of gunfire and crime.
Police from the west metro region are now examining whether the shooting is linked to broader disputes involving high‑risk retail businesses or local offenders and are appealing for dashcam, CCTV and phone footage from anyone in or around Borrack Square at the time. Investigators have urged witnesses to come forward, even anonymously, stressing that details such as a partial registration plate, a distinctive vehicle feature or a few seconds of video could be crucial in identifying those responsible.
As the boarded and broken windows of Smoke N Vape stare out onto the square, many in Altona North are left asking whether this was an isolated show of force or a signal that old patterns of violence are again resurfacing in Melbourne’s west.
