The founder of the Supanova comic culture convention says he and his colleagues are gutted after a young man was hit by a car and died outside the annual event in Melbourne’s inner north-west on Saturday evening.
Another man, aged in his 20s, was also hit by the vehicle outside the Melbourne Showgrounds and remains in a stable condition in the Royal Melbourne Hospital. After spending the night in hospital, the driver of the car was still undergoing questioning by police on Sunday afternoon.
A third member of the group, who was not physically injured, was taken to hospital suffering “trauma”, police said.
The event, expected to attract up to 26,000 attendees over the weekend, paused for a minute’s silence at noon on Sunday in tribute to the dead and injured men, who organisers believe were cosplay enthusiasts leaving the convention.
The car, which police believe to be a rental, was driven by a 33-year-old Werribee man. Major collision investigation unit Detective Inspector Craig McEvoy described the driver as “well known to police”.
Supanova founder and director Daniel Zachariou later told this masthead that most attendees and organisers were oblivious to the tragedy unfolding outside gate 2 of the showgrounds on Saturday evening.
“We had guests signing until 7.30, because it was so popular, and yet, a whole tragedy was unfolding just 100 metres up the road that we really knew very little about,” Zachariou said.
“We’re all gutted and at the same time, like so many other people in the world who suffer tragedies, we’ve also had to just step up and do what we need to do in delivering this event.”
Volo Kazmirchuk, who attended Supanova on Saturday and Sunday, said he had heard of the incident on the way home on Saturday evening.
“It’s tragic and my sincere condolences to the families and to those affected,” Kazmirchuk said.
“But I don’t feel bad coming back here because it’s not something that happened in the event here, god forbid, a shooting or something like that.”
McEvoy said on Saturday evening that police were investigating whether the incident was intentional.
“One hundred per cent. We’ll look at everything,” McEvoy said. “We’ll let the evidence tell us what’s occurred here tonight. We’re still yet to determine if drugs, alcohol, speed are involved, but that will form part of our investigation.”
McEvoy said the car swerved into the pedestrians, then drove 120 metres along the footpath between trees, power poles and the fence around the showgrounds.
Witness told this masthead that the driver tried to flee the scene but was restrained by passers-by before an off-duty police officer arrested him.
“The vehicle has travelled a significant distance along the footpath, which is extremely odd,” McEvoy said. “Nothing suggests at this point in time [that] it’s medically related.”
“He’s well known to police at this point in time,” he said.
Premier Jacinta Allan said it was a tragic incident that never should have happened.
“My heart goes out to the family and loved ones of the individual who has been tragically killed, and I understand there are others who are injured,” she said. “Police are investigating, so it’s a little soon to provide further details around individuals or the circumstances surrounding this terrible accident.”
She thanked emergency services who responded, acknowledging it would have been an “incredibly distressing” scene.
More to come
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
