Casefile True Crime - Case 57: Walsh Street

Episode Date: July 29, 2017

At 11 PM on October 11 1988, Victoria Police Constables Steven Tynan and Damian Eyre began working the night shift in the Melbourne suburb of Prahran. After attending to a number of routine policing matters, they were called out to inspect a Holden Commodore that had been abandoned in Walsh Street, South Yarra. --- Episode narrated by the Anonymous Host Researched and written by Milly Raso For all credits and sources please visit casefilepodcast.com/case-57-walsh-street

Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents. If you feel at any time you need support, please contact your local crisis centre. For suggested phone numbers for confidential support, please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website. Peter Ellis woke early on October 12, 1988. It was almost 4.20am and still dark outside. Peter worked at a local news agency and he had to leave home before dawn to prepare for the morning peak hour rush of customers. He lived in the inner city suburb of South Yarrow which borders the eastern side of Melbourne City. Peter's apartment was on Walsh Street,

a narrow residential road packed on either side with multi-storey units. Walsh Street connects to many high traffic main roads leading to and from Melbourne but has little traffic of its own. With the Yarrow River to the north, Royal Botanical Gardens to the west and Faulkner Park to the south, it was an ideal inner city street to live. When Peter crawled out of bed that cool spring morning, he immediately noticed something strange outside his bedroom window. On the street below, a white-holding Commodore sedan was parked in the middle of the road.

Its bonnet was up and doors were closed. Parked cars framed to the sides of Walsh Street, restricting available road space to one lane. The Commodore's awkward position was blocking the road in both directions. There wasn't anyone in or around it. Peter prepared for work and minutes later he collected his push-bike from downstairs and wheeled it outside. The Commodore was still sitting in the middle of the street. Its rear window was smashed. Peter assumed the car had been stolen during the night from elsewhere and it was carelessly abandoned on Walsh Street after running out of petrol. Peter cycled south. The news agency where he worked was located on the nearby shopping strip of Turac Road. He arrived there

around 4.25am and decided to phone the local police station to report the abandoned vehicle. The Commodore needed to be towed to clear Walsh Street for other cars to pass through. At 4.30am, the constable at Perran Police Station who took Peter Ellis' call phoned the Victoria Police's main communication centre in Melbourne City. He passed on the report of the abandoned Commodore in Walsh Street. The communication centre then sought out a police team to head the Walsh Street to investigate. Victoria Police constables Stephen Tynan and Damien Ayres Night Shift had started on October 11, 1988 at 11pm. Call saw in Perran 311 had been a shift of routine policing for the pair. A domestic dispute,

noisy parties, a drunken Fitzroy Street, a pub assault on Chapel Street, a smash shop window and two activated security alarms. At 4.39am on the morning of October 12, two and a half hours before the end of their shift, a new job was radioed to them from the police communications centre. Perran 311, if you could slip down to Walsh Street in South Yarra, Mr Ellis of 220 Walsh Street states there's a white hold in Sedan, don't know what the rego is, got the lights on and smashed windows in the middle of the road. Roger, constable Damien Ayres responded. Walsh Street was not technically in their area. This job should have been allocated to the St

Kilda Road unit, but staff levels at St Kilda Road Police Station were low at the time and they didn't have enough officers to send a divisional van. It should have then been forwarded to South Melbourne, but their divisional van was in St Kilda attending a suicide, so the Walsh Street job was allocated to the nearest available police vehicle. Perran 311. At 4.48am, Perran 311 drove their divisional van down Leafy Walsh Street. Constable Stephen Tynan was driving. He was the senior of the two officers, but at the young age of 22, he was a much older than his 21 year old rookie partner, Constable Damien Ayres. Damien Ayres' father and brother were proud members of Victoria Police. It was Damien's

lifelong ambition to follow in their footsteps. Despite failing his first police admission test, Damien was not deterred to give up on his dream, and his second attempt was a success. Damien's graduation from the police academy brought great pride to his father Frank Ayre. By October 12, 1988, Damien had been a member of Victoria Police for only six months. Stephen Tynan had been in the police force for almost three years, and already earned himself a wealth of experience. He had recently taken some time off work after a shooting incident, and had only been back on the beat for three days before winding up on Walsh Street. That morning, Walsh Street was vacant, dark, and silent. Residents in surrounding apartments

and units slept. The morning work traffic was still an hour or so away from appearing on the adjacent punt road. Constable's Tynan and Ayre found the white Commodore still sitting in the middle of the road, out the front of 220 Walsh Street. They slowly pulled up behind it and lit up the rear of the vehicle with their van's high beams. The Commodore was empty with its bonnet up, as if broken down. Its doors were closed, and its rear window had been smashed. Tynan and Ayre approached the Commodore with no sense of danger. All signs suggested it was a stolen car abandoned after a joyride. Considered a routine job, it was nothing out of the ordinary at all for a typical police shift. It was just before 4.50am when both officers approached the

Commodore, the tar cracking underneath their feet as they approached in the dark. There was no one inside. Constable Ayre checked the car's registration sticker on the windscreen taking notes. Constable Tynan sat in the driver's seat, leaving the door open. He noticed the broken ignition lock and hanging wires from below the dashboard, suggesting the car was stolen, and he called out to Constable Ayre to come over and check it out. Ayre walked over and knelt down on one knee by the driver's side door. A loud, fiery crack of gunshots shattered the morning silence and echoed down Wall Street. Residents were instantly woken up by the startling sounds. A masked gunman had run out from the shadows and at close range fired a heavy caliber shotgun at

Constable Tynan as he went to exit the car. The shot hit Tynan's head and to the impact caused him to slump back into the seat. More gunshots quickly followed. The shooter had taken aim at Constable Ayre, crouched down by the door. The second shot hit his back and shoulder. Despite his injuries, Constable Ayre found the strength to stand and lunge at the gunman. Ayre grabbed the shotgun and yelled out, stop, stop, no, as he forced the barrel away from himself. Another two shots were fired during the struggle, but they didn't hit anyone. While Ayre fought the gunman, a second offender appeared. Unable to fight both attackers simultaneously, Ayre kept his hands on the shotgun. This allowed the second offender to steal Constable

Ayre's revolver from his hip holster. With Ayre's own revolver pointed directly at his head. The second gunman pulled the trigger. The gunman then pointed the weapon at him once more as he laid bleeding on the ground and shot him again. The two gunmen then fled. Urgent calls to police were made by residents. An initial call to police described the sounds, Hello, I'm ringing from inside 225 Wolfe Street, South Yarra. There were terrible loud noises outside. Voices were screaming. Another call followed soon after, Oh my gosh, it only just happened. We're at flat 222. I just woke up. I heard shots. As I looked out the window, I heard calling out and I couldn't see anything.

Thirteen minutes after the communications operated dispatched Constable's time and then dared to Wolfe Street, he desperately attempted to re-establish contact with them via police radio. VKC to Peran 311. VKC to Peran 311. The operator contacted South Melbourne 150, the supervising inspector in the district. South Melbourne 150, I sent Peran 311 down to Wolfe Street. There's a car, a whitehold in Sedan parked in the middle of the road with lights on and smashed windows. Since then, I've had about three or four calls come in saying that they've heard shots fired in that street and I can't get Peran 311 at this stage. Concern of Victoria police headquarters grew as more and more reports of the gunfire in Wolfe Street reached emergency

operators. Offers of assistance from police teams in the region lit up police radio. Petrol cars from South Melbourne, Russell Street and St Kilda all converged on Wolfe Street. It was South Melbourne who reached Wolfe Street first at 4.53am, five minutes after the gunfire. The first thing they saw was Constable Tynan and his police divisional van parked in the middle of the road. The driver's side door was open and the engine was running. The van's headlights illuminated the rear of the White Hold and Commodore Sedan in front of it. Only seconds later, they radioed the following. South 250 urgent, South Melbourne 250, two members down, urgent. South Melbourne 250, for God's sake, get an ambulance.

The officers from South Melbourne found Constable Damien Air lying in the middle of Wolfe Street by the back wheel of the White Hold and Commodore. Blood gushed from a head wound and snaked down the road's incline. There were also two bleeding holes through his jacket into his back. His police issue 38 service revolver was missing from the holster on his hip. Slumped in the Commodore's front seat was Constable Stephen Tynan. The interior of the car was full of blood. Both officers were unconscious. Their eyes were open but they were non-responsive. At that moment, a man emerged from nearby shadows holding something up at the anxious police officers. The police yelled at him to drop his weapon. It was only a torch.

He was escorting his partner Gillian who was a registered nurse and had been awoken by the gun shots. Once she heard police arrive, she felt compelled to offer medical assistance to anyone injured. Gillian approached Constable Air who was lying on the road on his left side. He was moaning. His breathing and pulse were irregular and he didn't respond to her. His head wound was large, bleeding, and Gillian could see grey matter. She didn't think there was much she could do. She then checked Constable Tynan in the Commodore. His breathing was laboured and raspy. He barely had a pulse. Gillian asked the police officers to lift him out of the car. When the nurse handled the back of Constable Tynan's head, her hand went inside it.

The police communication centre was chaotic. Multiple two-man police teams arrived on scene. They were each confronted by their horribly injured colleagues and were asking the questions, who, what, and why. Two ambulances arrived simultaneously. Their crews spent 19 minutes attempting to stabilise the injured officers. Stephen Tynan's condition deteriorated and his pulse faded. His breaths were two-a-minute. Damien Air's pulse was weakening, but his breaths were more frequent. Paramedics rushed Tynan and Air to nearby Alfred Hospital. But Stephen Tynan was reported dead on arrival. Police sealed off the surrounding area. Roads were blocked by a dozen police vans,

and a hunt began for the perpetrators. Every police resource available at the time was called to the scene, including helicopters and the dog squad. Constable Air's revolver could not be found, and no suspect persons were located in the area. Damien Air's father, Frank, was awoken by a knock at his front door. It was still early and the sun hadn't yet risen. He opened to the door to be greeted by two police officers. Frank Air knew that the police had been in prison. He opened the door to be greeted by two police officers. Frank Air knew Damien was on night shift, and the looks on the officer's faces told him something was wrong. In his many years as a police officer, Frank had delivered notices of death to victims' families. This

moment stung with familiarity. The officers informed Frank there had been a shooting, and Damien's partner Stephen Tynan was dead. However Damien was still alive and was taken to the nearby Alfred Hospital. But as the officers who delivered the message walked back down Frank Air's driveway towards their squad car, they received an update message over their radios. Damien Air had passed away as well. Constable Stephen John Tynan was a compassionate young man who loved everybody, and in turn everybody loved him. In 1985 Stephen graduated from the Victoria Police Academy, finishing 10th in his training squad of 43 members. After graduation Stephen lived at home

with his parents Kevin and Wendy Tynan. A police sergeant who worked with Stephen congratulated Kevin and Wendy on their parenting and told them that Stephen was the most well-adjusted 22-year-old he had ever met. In early 1988 Stephen started working at Peran Police Station. He was approaching his third year in the police force and had moved over to Peran Station after spending a year working at the much quieter Cheltenham Police Station in southern Victoria. Peran was considered a tough area to police. Only five kilometres from Melbourne City, Peran featured many trendy and fashionable shopping strips and it was abundant with parks, restaurants, pubs and nightclubs. The popular haunts of Chapel Street, Greville Street and Turac Road brought a lot of visitors to the

area. These high traffic areas made the suburb a hire for a wide variety of frequent crime. Peran Police Station dealt with more crime in a year than stations located in quieter areas soaring 10. Stephen Tynan welcomed the change of location and quickly adapted to the stressful work. Just 10 days prior to being called to Wall Street on Saturday October 1st Stephen Tynan and another partner were dispatched to investigate an activated armed robbery alarm at a bedding agency in South Yarra. Awaiting the two officers were two armed men wearing crude paper bag masks. One carried a knife, the other carried an imitation though convincing looking pistol. The offenders used an employee as a shield when trying to escape the police. Stephen shot one offender in the neck,

the other offender took bullets to the knee and gut. This incident distressed Stephen who took some time off work afterwards to settle. This incident really shook him. Constable Damien Jeffrey Eyre was a determined country boy raised in the rural town of Shepperton in northern Victoria. His admiration for Victoria police had been ingrained in him since he was a child. Both Damien's father and older brother were police officers as well as his sister-in-law. Damien's blood ran blue and policing was a part of his family heritage. As a boy Damien would visit his father at work at Shepperton police station and play with the old typewriters and roleplay as an officer. His father considered it one of his proudest moments when Damien told him years later that

he wanted to apply to become a police officer. Damien graduated from the academy in 1987. He was offered the opportunity of being posted to Shepperton police station where his father had worked but Damien wanted to gain more varied policing experience and asked to work close at a Melbourne city. Damien was assigned to Perran police station in May 1988. For any rookie cop this station would be intense and intimidating but Damien eagerly embraced all the challenges that came with policing the area. All Damien cared about was carrying on his father's tradition of being a proud and honorable police officer. Frank Eyre told his son if you want to be a police officer you've got to be dedicated otherwise don't go to work you just don't know what's going to strike

from day to day. During the canvas of Wall Street witness accounts from residents provided investigators with a timeline of events. No one saw what happened between the constables and their killers but many heard the gunshots. Shortly after Tyne and Eyre arrived at Wall Street at 4.48 a.m. two gunshots were fired. Shortly after the shots rang out a nearby resident looked out their window. Quote I was awoken by the sound of gunshots. I got out of bed and stood at my window. I saw a medium-sized what I'd call a bandit looking person. This person appeared to be wearing something over his head. He was running along the lane towards Punt Road at a very fast speed. I looked back up the lane way towards Wall Street and saw a second person running down the lane in the same direction

as the first person. The second person was very much like the first person. It was as if they were both dressed identically running at a very fast speed continuing in the direction of Punt Road. Another witness saw these two master salons get into a vehicle. Quote I saw the figure of a man run up Ely Street to a car that was parked in Ely Street, possibly white. The man was breathing very heavily and in a big hurry. I saw him open the driver's side door and get in. He then started the car and started to slowly drive off. Then I heard the sound of a second guy running up Ely Street from the same direction. He was also breathing very heavily and loudly and moved very quickly. I saw the second guy open the passenger door and get in,

closing the door after him. This car was seen speeding down Ely Street without its lights on. These two witnesses confirmed the two master salons were identically dressed. As more statements were collected from witnesses, it became clear to police there were more suspects involved in the crime than just these two. One witness implicated three other suspects. Quote When they got to the corner, they stopped, crossed to the northern side of the road, and one jumped the fence into the garden of a house on the corner. The second stood beside the tree just inside the entrance. The person that jumped the fence into the garden was carrying something in his left hand and holding it against his left side. I couldn't make out what he was

holding. I didn't see that person again. The person I saw beside the tree then walked out into Punt Road and appeared to be looking up towards the main road. Within a minute I saw a dark coloured panel van travelling at a fast rate of speed down Punt Road. It skidded and stopped. I could only see a driver in this panel van. As the van stopped, the second person opened the front door of the panel van. The panel van then took off out of sight. Police now had a total of five suspect persons assumed connected to the scene. The two masked men who left via the white car on Early Street, the third who got picked up by the dark panel van on Punt Road, the panel van's driver, and the fifth who jumped fences and ran

from the scene. Furthermore, a Wall Street resident came forward and told police her car's front passenger window was smashed that night. Her brown jumper that was in the back seat was missing. The jumper was found in a nearby garden missing its sleeves. Police believed the shooters used the torn sleeves as makeshift balaclavas. The personal lives and police history of Stephen Tynan and Damien Eyre were investigated, but both men were clean. The young constables had no enemies, therefore their deaths were not considered targeted payback. Neither had been in the force long enough to develop any long-term grudges with renowned

criminals or gangs. Detectives looked into the criminals that Tynan had shot at a week earlier at the Bedding Agency incident. Those armed robbers were students deep in gambling debt. They had no friends or family or known criminal connections in Melbourne. Both men were still injured from the confrontation, and the man Stephen shot in the neck was permanently paralysed. Neither student was a seasoned criminal, and neither had the connections to seek targeted revenge against Stephen Tynan for the shooting. Plus, there was no way of knowing it would be Stephen Tynan who would respond to the call on Wall Street. It wasn't even technically his area. It was dismissed as a connection. The possibility Stephen and Damien interrupted

a crime being committed was also ruled out. The pair investigated the abandoned Commodore almost half an hour after Peter Ellis made the initial call to police. Ellis didn't see anyone in or around the car. It appeared abandoned. Car thieves would have had ample time to flee the scene before police arrived. The Thai Air Task Force, named from the combination of the two deceased officers surnames, was created to investigate the murders. The Thai Air Task Force was made up of a core group of 12 investigators, three from the armed robbery squad, four from the major crime squad, and five from the homicide squad. They would partake in the largest police investigation within the state of Victoria. Hundreds

of police officers worked with the Thai Air Task Force at the height of the investigation. The Victorian state government offered a reward of $200,000 for information leading to a conviction. Investigators considered the sinister possibility that the Commodore wasn't randomly abandoned. It appeared to have been strategically planted there. This implied that the Wall Street shootings were not an accident. They were an ambush. And that was exactly how Task Force Thai Air treated the investigation. Not since 1878, when the infamous Bush ranger Ned Kelly and his gang ambushed and killed three police officers in regional Victoria had a similar targeted act been carried out.

But unlike Ned Kelly and his gang who were being pursued, Constable's time and endear were lured to Wall Street and killed simply because they were wearing a police uniform. Their deaths served no purpose to their killers, but to send a message to Victoria Police. It was an act committed purely in cold blood. During the 1980s, bank robberies had become a national problem for Australia. Gone were the days of lone gunmen acting impulsively for minimal take. Professional crews were taking over. Crime gangs planned robberies in advance to collect big money. They performed reconnaissance, sought intelligence, selected experienced personnel,

assigned roles, organised gear and weaponry, arranged transport and chose hiding places. When knocking over their targets with weapons in hand and masks on, they were threatening and violent, but also clean and efficient. For the gang members, it was an exciting, deadly rush that bred an addictive lifestyle. Successful robberies were thrilling. Criminals were always waiting with anticipation for the next big job. Gang members became fiercely loyal to each other, relying on crewmates to watch each other's backs. They owed each other their lives. They saw their crews as their family. Armed robbery was a high risk operation. To get in and out with any success,

criminals had to approach their targets with ruthless intent. And this life and limb approach had resulted in the deaths of several Australian police officers killed by offenders caught in the act in previous years. The violence was particularly overwhelming for Victoria Police. The 1980s saw several violent events that profoundly impacted and changed Victoria Police. The first was the Russell Street bombing in 1986. A car bomb targeting police exploded outside the Russell Street Police headquarters, killing one officer. This is further detailed in Case 24 of Casefire. The second was a mass shooting in Hodel Street in 1987, committed by former Australian Army cadet Julian Knight. Knight killed seven people and injured

19 more. Only four months later, law student Frank Vickervick entered a building in Queen Street, Melbourne and shot 13 people, killing eight. As armed killers terrorised Melbourne, Victoria Police members believed they were in the midst of a clandestine war that was getting progressively worse. And they felt they were losing the war. By 1987, armed bank robberies in Victoria were as frequent as 20 per week. Two or three bank robberies were expected daily. Crime seemed out of control. The armed robbery squad was tasked to combat the offenders. Both police and criminals considered them the heavy unit. Victoria Police members began approaching violent armed offenders with the same

defensive impulse as the offenders. Kill or be killed. What followed were several incidents where police killed armed and unarmed criminals. Criminals and law enforcement were reaching a point of intense hatred and fear of each other. For Victoria Police, criminal activity was becoming particularly immoral and personal. Police felt unsafe performing their duties against extreme criminals who refused to surrender. Police were up against ruthless and deadly armed robbers, who had no problem taking innocent lives to satisfy their own pockets. Criminals would hold grudges and sought retribution. Some of them felt the police were turning into shoot first trigger happy corrupt cowboys who sought lethal vengeance. They worried

that if and when police confronted them that they would be murdered, not arrested. Once criminals started being shot by police during their apprehension, the culture slowly changed and some gangs dissolved. What remained were around a dozen determined and violent bank robbery crews. The Flemington crew was one such criminal team. Police gave them the title after they robbed a Flemington bank in November 1987. The Flemington crew was intensely violent. During robberies, they didn't differentiate between males, females or children. They didn't care. They physically terrorized them all by putting shotguns and weapons up to the noses of victims and demanding money. Police knew the identities of the Flemington crew members, but they were yet to be caught in

the act and there wasn't enough evidence for an arrest. Based out of the Melbourne inner city suburb of Richmond, the Flemington crew was led by career criminal Victor Pierce. Born in 1958, Victor Pierce was the sixth child of 10 born to Kathleen Pettingill, the imposing matriarch of a Melbourne based criminal family. Kath, also known as Granny Evil, was a 20 year criminal veteran. She had a glass eye after an incident in the late 70s where she was shot through a door while attempting to pay a personal debt for her only daughter. Her children all had connections to illegal activities and most ended up going to prison or to an early grave. Her son Victor Pierce was considered one of the best armed robbers in

Melbourne. He was the organizer and planner of the crimes linked to the Flemington crew. Fellow members sought his advice and admired him. His robberies took weeks of planning and surveillance. He'd study a target, memorize the building, its exit locations, the timings of key events and how people got in and out. The Flemington crew hit their targets on a Thursday or Friday when banks carried the most money. Fresh getaway cars were stolen the night before. Holden Commodore V8s were their preferred choice, common models that would not arouse suspicion and could gain speed quickly. Multiple professional criminals were connected to the Flemington crew, giving Victor Pierce a pool of experience to draw from for each new job. Aside from Pierce, who was the ringleader,

there were three other full-time members of the Flemington crew. One of those members was Graham Jensen. Jensen had earned his first criminal charge at age 11 when caught stealing from taxis. He left school in third form to work at a broom factory. That employment lasted two weeks before he sought a lifelong career in crime. At 14 years old, he stole six fur coats, valued at $2,500. At 15, he robbed his first bank in Fitzroy, netting just over $1,000. The arresting officer at the time warned of what Jensen could become, stating that in the future, Jensen would be a very active criminal who would require firm handling. In 1977, Jensen was arrested in Canberra for three armed robberies,

resulting in a total steal of $70,000. Jensen was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. Police considered Jensen to be a very dangerous person. He was rumoured to sleep with a loaded shotgun under his bed. If given the opportunity, police believed Jensen would shoot a police officer or anyone else who got in his way. Despite this reputation, Graham Jensen was a personable and popular guy in crime circles and was a close friend of Victor Pierce. On October 11th, 1988, the day before the Wall Street shootings, Graham Jensen was under surveillance by Victoria Police in relation to Operation No Name. Jensen was a suspect in an armed robbery of a supermarket in the northern suburb of Brunswick a few months prior. On that day, a gun-wielding robber jumped

two guards and demanded the cash tin they were carrying. One of the guards, Dominic Hefty, was shot in the chest and leg by the offender during a struggle. The offender ran out of the store in full view of witnesses, carjacked a woman, and sped away. The guard, Dominic Hefty, died two days later from his injuries, leaving behind his wife and two-year-old child. Flemington crew member Graham Jensen fit witness descriptions of the Brunswick gunman and was pointed out in photo assemblies, and informer had also implicated Victor Pierce in the crime, so police decided to bring both men in for questioning. Police were aware both Pierce and Jensen were dangerous criminals who had access to firearms. Pierce's location was unknown,

but Jensen was at a safe house, the Nari Warren home of his girlfriend. Nari Warren is a southeastern suburb about 40 kilometres from Melbourne. On October 11th, Jensen woke late and had breakfast in bed before getting up around midday to watch a movie. It was six hours into surveillance for Operation No Name before police had a possible sighting of him. At 3.20pm, police observed an unidentified male leaving the house in Nari Warren. The male got into Jensen's Blue Holden Commodore station wagon and drove off. Police couldn't confirm if the man was Graham Jensen, so they decided not to confront him and instead covertly tailed the car. The suspect drove to a nearby lawn mower shop three minutes away on Web Street. He parked his car on a strip

of gravel in front of the store and went inside to buy a new spark pipe. Two undercover surveillance detectives followed the suspect inside and confirmed it was Graham Jensen. Police feared the possibility Jensen would drive on to do a school pickup. They didn't want to risk putting children in danger, so a box intercept was planned. Once Jensen returned to his car, detectives would manoeuvre three unmarked police cars to block his vehicle. One car would drive up on each side and the third would block him at the rear. Jensen exited the store and got in his car. Police attempted the box intercept and three cars containing eight armed rubbery squad members screeched towards the station wagon. Jensen put his car in reverse and hit the accelerator. He

was able to back out of the trap and did a sharp U-turn, clipping one of the police cars in the process. An officer yelled, he's got a gun. Police yelled for Jensen to stop and raise their weapons at his car. Shots were fired, peppering Jensen's car with bullet holes and shattering the rear window. Seconds later, Jensen's car veered off the road and up onto a curb before smashing into a light pole. The front hood of his vehicle was crushed. His lifeless body slumped in the driver's seat. Jensen had a gunshot wound in the back of his head. Police conceded this was a poorly executed attempt at an arrest. Their intention was to arrest Jensen, not to kill him. According to police statements, the reason Jensen was shot at was because police witnessed Jensen point a gun

at them during his escape. A sawn-off, bolt-action 22 rifle was discovered next to Jensen's legs in his vehicle. Jensen's girlfriend said she hadn't seen the gun in Jensen's car that morning when she was cleaning it and she was adamant that she didn't see it in his possession before he left. A rumour started that the gun had been taken from the boot of a police car hidden in a beach towel implanted in Jensen's station wagon after it crashed to justify the shooting. Police denied the rumour. They insisted the towel was only used to cover Jensen's body from public view, which it was. The towel was later destroyed without being tested. With the executions of Constable's Tyne and Eyre coming just 13 hours after the death of

career criminal Graeme Jensen, police realised it was too suspicious to be a coincidence. They believed that Tyne and Eyre's murders were an act of revenge and retaliation for the shooting death of Graeme Jensen. A media report after the Wall Street shootings featured an officer saying quote, perhaps they decided we killed one of theirs and they decided to kill two of ours. Within hours of the Wall Street shootings, police erode in on all of Graeme Jensen's family, friends and associates, including Victor Pierce and two other members of the Flemington crew, Peter McAvoy and Jed Horton. In a single day, police raided 100 homes linked to potential suspects. These raids carried on for months. One home could be raided multiple times a week at the

discretion of the Tyne Eyre Task Force. Their aim was to shake the shit out of the underworld. They raided known crooks, ex-crooks, their families, associates, even the names listed in their address books. Raids typically occurred early morning. Doors and windows were smashed with sledgehammers. Residents woke to armed officers surrounding their bed pointing loaded guns at them. Tactics police used to get information were said to include threats to kill, bashings, warning shots, broken bones, guns pushed into people's mouths, guns held against the heads of children, homes ransacked and furniture destroyed. Community outrage at the senseless deaths of two young police officers

outweighed the concerns of the tactics used by police to catch the killers. The police aimed to break hardened criminals who had adapted to what they felt was soft policing. Criminals felt what it was like to be terrorized, threatened and intimidated. At 2.40pm on Wednesday October 12th, 11 hours after the shootings in Wall Street, a shotgun blast shattered the front door of Victor Pierce's home. Special operations group police bolted inside with their weapons raised and ready. In the home was Victor's wife, Wendy Pierce. The special operations group yelled at her. Where is he? Where is that cunt?

Victor Pierce wasn't home. He was at his sister's property with fellow Flamington crew member, Peter McAvoy. The special operations group made their way to the property, but when they arrived later that afternoon, Peter McAvoy was alone. Victor Pierce had left. The hunt for the final two Flamington crew members began. Victor Pierce was in hiding and Jed Horton was already on the run due to outstanding warrants. Victor Pierce was convinced now more than ever that police were going to kill him. A message had been delivered to Pierce shortly before Graham Jensen's death, claiming police threatened to off him. To Pierce, this threat was not unexpected.

He believed there was a group of police targeting and exterminating career criminals, and it seemed logical he would be next. On Thursday, October 13th, an anxious Victor Pierce presented himself at St Kilda Road police station with his lawyer. His intention was to go on the record as being innocent of any bank robberies police suspected him of. Pierce believed if he voluntarily handed himself in for questioning, that would protect him from being shot. Once questioning began, all police wanted Pierce to talk about was the Wall Street shootings. Frustrated at the accusations he was responsible for Wall Street, Pierce responded to his question with no comment.

Detectives made the sudden decision to arrest Pierce for the murder of Dominic Hefty, the security guard shot during the Brunswick supermarket robbery months earlier. The murder they had attempted to arrest Graham Jensen for when he was killed. Pierce was shocked. His plan had backfired. He responded, I know nothing and I don't want to say anything. What had happened was, after Graham Jensen's death, police sent a sample of his blood to forensics to see if it matched blood found at the Brunswick supermarket crime scene. The offender had been injured during the struggle with Hefty and left his blood at the scene.

This test showed that Graham Jensen was not the murderer of the supermarket guard after all. This news created a serious problem for Victoria police. They had justified the killing of Jensen by publicly stating that he was wanted for the murder of Hefty. This gave the arrest the sense of urgency and justified the aggressive tactics to stop the murderer from escaping them and putting more innocent lives at risk. But Jensen didn't do it. So they went after Victor Pierce for the murder. The evidence to support Victor Pierce as Dominic Hefty's killer was weak. An unreliable police informer had pointed Victor Pierce out as possibly being the

planner of the robbery. But the decision to arrest Pierce at least ensured he would remain behind bars for the time being. A murder charge meant he wouldn't be eligible for bail. Not all investigators approved of this tactic. Pierce was tight lipped, with no intention of revealing information he might have had regarding Wall Street. They believed more insight would have been gained if Pierce was free on the streets and able to communicate with his crew. They would have preferred using listening devices, phone bugs, tracking vices, and covert surveillance to try and catch him out. But despite the disagreements between investigators, Victor Pierce was put behind bars at Pentridge Prison.

During their many raids, police scooped up Victor Pierce's nephew, Jensen Ryan. Jensen was an unemployed 17-year-old with a history of shooting his mouth off to police. He was the son of Victor Pierce's sister, Vicky Pierce. Jensen Ryan was a drug user who hadn't been to school in three years. Those who knew Jensen considered him a violent weirdo. Jensen's family attempted to groom him into being a professional criminal by giving him support, role models, and contacts. Despite these opportunities, Jensen never amounted to much as a criminal. He was soft compared to the hardened criminals around him. At 13 years old, Jensen lived with his uncle, Dennis Allen, Victor Pierce's older

half-brother. Dennis Allen was infamous within legal and criminal circles. He was nicknamed Mr. Death. He ran a million-dollar heroin trafficking business out of several houses in Richmond. Dennis was a sociopath, hyperviolent, and a murderer. On one occasion, Jensen Ryan watched as Dennis, high on drugs, shot dead a house guest during a moment of uncontrollable rage. The victim stood up to change the record player, and Dennis shot him six times. Dennis then retrieved another gun, returned to his victim, and fired another seven bullets into him. Jensen started drinking heavily and injecting speed to cope with the environment he was being raised in. On another occasion, Jensen was ordered by his uncle, Dennis Allen, to fill a bucket with

water from the nearby Yarrow River. Dennis tipped the river water down the throat of a woman he had just killed. The woman's head was held in the bucket for half an hour to make it appear as though she had drowned. Dennis Allen was able to tiptoe around criminal convictions by bribing corrupt police officers and offering information, intelligence, and evidence on other criminals' crimes. Dennis Allen died in April 1987 from a cardiac arrest. It was known that he had killed at least six people, but the total may have been as high as 13. His death was a relief to law enforcement. Contempt had formed in Victoria Police between those few corrupt officers who protected Dennis Allen and those who were trying to go after him. Despite it being far from the perfect upbringing,

Jensen Ryan considered Dennis Allen a father figure. However, Dennis was not as fond of Jensen in return. Dennis would even try and pin some of his crimes on Jensen to avoid prosecution. Jensen would talk openly with police about the crimes his family members were committing. After Dennis Allen died, Jensen turned to his uncle Victor Pierce as a replacement father figure. Police believed if Victor Pierce had anything to do with Wall Street, then his loose-lipped nephew Jensen Ryan would be the one to let them know. In an attempt to get Jensen to talk to police about Wall Street, they arrested him for being an accomplice after the fact for the murder of security guard Dominic Hefty. This gave police the opportunity to take Jensen in for questioning.

Police didn't have to wait long for Jensen to talk. It was on the drive to the police station that he volunteered that he knew something about the Wall Street shootings. Police offered Jensen the opportunity to be placed in protective custody to keep him away from the threat of retribution. He jumped at the offer. Three armed robbery squad detectives put Jensen in a car and took him up the Hume Highway towards the Great Dividing Range. Jensen was taken to a secure location 800 kilometres from Melbourne to be questioned. Jensen initially had fears the trip was a ploy to kill him and dump his body in bushland never to be found. These thoughts crossed his mind after knowing his family had connections with corrupt police officers. He didn't know who

to trust. Police believed Jensen was genuinely remorseful that two young, innocent police officers had been murdered. During questioning he implicated himself and Flemington crew members Victor Pierce, Jed Horton and Peter McAvoy as all being involved in the Wall Street shootings. He also implicated a new suspect, his friend Anthony Farrell. Jensen claimed that after Graham Jensen was shot dead he was at his mother's house with Anthony Farrell, Jed Horton and Peter McAvoy. Peter McAvoy was living there at the time. When news broke that Jensen had been shot dead by police, Peter McAvoy couldn't contain his temper. His emotions jumped between tears, anger and threats. McAvoy knew Graham Jensen wasn't the gunman at

the Brunswick Supermarket robbery police went to arrest him for. Jensen had also previously told McAvoy he suspected he was being tailed by cops and felt towy about being caught with a gun. The Flemington crew were of the staunch belief that the gun found in Jensen's car was planted by police after it was shot. Jensen watched as McAvoy screamed, reanted, swore and made threats about police. But Jed Horton remained silent. The Flemington crew was still reeling over the death of a part-time member only the year before, also at the hands of police. After hearing about Graham Jensen, McAvoy clutched a black handgun and yelled about how two of his mates had now died, so now two dogs had to die. McAvoy said if they didn't do it by the end of the night,

they were weak dogs. After hearing this, Jed Horton rang Victor Pierce. Later that afternoon, Jensen rhymed and his friend Anthony Farrell went to the local pub for a drink and stayed until closing time. Afterwards, they went to a flat in Gordon Grove, South Yarrow. Gordon Grove is a 10-minute walk from Wall Street. The flat belonged to Anthony Farrell's girlfriend, who wasn't home at the time. In her flat, Anthony Farrell had stored boxes of dark-colored, night-bringed track suits that he had scored during a recent theft. Shortly later, Victor Pierce, Jed Horton and Peter McAvoy arrived at the flat. They told Jensen Ryan they wanted him to steal them a car. Victor Pierce wanted to put the car

somewhere, then ring the police to come and get it. Then they would ambush them. Jensen had no doubt they were planning to kill the police officers. The group changed into matching track suits, which matched a witness's statement from the morning of the Wall Street shootings, stating the suspects appeared to be wearing identical clothing. The group then left the flat together. Jensen explained his role in the crime was stealing the white commodore used in the ambush. He stulled off the curb from out the front of a property on Wall Street. After starting the vehicle, Jensen got out and Jed Horton got in. Horton turned it around and drove it to the location of the ambush. When Jensen saw the headlights of an

approaching car from down the road, he ran from the scene. He claimed he heard the gunshots as he ran away. Police knew Jensen was lying. His series of events implied Tyne and Endaire were killed within minutes of the Commodore being planted. But police were aware of additional information that wasn't yet public. At 3.50am, a taxi drove down Wall Street to pick up a fare. The driver noticed the rear of the white commodore sitting 20 meters ahead blocking the road. He tutored his horn and waited two minutes. No one responded. He thought the car had broken down and its owner had gone to get help. Investigators believed the killers called the taxi and sent it to Wall Street, hoping the taxi

driver would call the police. However, the taxi driver reversed back to the main road and didn't report the unusual car to anyone. Officers Tyne and Endaire weren't at the location for another 50 minutes. So this contradicted Jensen's statement. Jensen Ryan gave many more versions of the events regarding the morning of the Wall Street shootings. He constantly changed his story. When asked why he lied to police, he repeated the same answer. I don't know, I just did. Despite his inclination to talk, he ended up hard work for investigators. Police raided the Gordon Grove property Jensen claimed was used as a killers meeting place hours before the shooting. No evidence was found to suggest that any of the men Jensen named had

been in the flat. There were no boxes filled with stolen night track suits either. Anthony Ferrell's girlfriend told police she didn't notice a single thing out of place when she returned home from her trip out of town. The neighbors were canvassed but no one saw or heard anything suspicious in or around the flat that night. Police decided to arrest Jensen Ryan for the murders of Stephen Tyne and Endaire. They needed him safe from anyone who might be looking to shut him up. They'd also allowed police to continue questioning him for more information throughout the investigation. In order to maintain his protection, Jensen Ryan's arrest wasn't public knowledge. Everyone, including his mother, thought Jensen was missing. None of his family knew he was safe in police

custody, so they filed a missing persons report. Jensen couldn't be a crown witness in court if he was facing a murder charge. Therefore police offered to withdraw the charges, only if he agreed to give evidence against Victor Pierce and the others. Jensen agreed. On November 1st, 20 days after the Wall Street shootings and while Victor Pierce was still locked up on remand for the murder of security guard Dominic Hefty, police once again raided his home. Wendy Pierce was drunk inside after celebrating in the Melbourne Cup Carnival, a large and popular horse racing event held at Flemington Racecourse. During the raid, police found a Magnum pistol buried in the backyard. After the raid, Wendy visited Pierce to tell him the news.

The only people who knew about the pistol's location in the backyard were Pierce, herself, and Jensen Ryan. They knew this meant Jensen was talking to police. He wasn't missing at all. He was a police informer. Victor Pierce told Wendy what to say when making her statement to police. This included his whereabouts on October 11 and 12. He repeated the story to Wendy over and over. Her statement to police ended up being exactly what Pierce told her to write. In her statement, she wrote that immediately following Graham Jensen's death, Pierce feared he was about to be killed by police also. He wanted to get away from the family home to somewhere the police couldn't find him.

On the evening of October 11, Pierce and Wendy took their children and retreated to the Tullamarine Inn, 17km northwest of Melbourne. Wendy's statement explained Pierce didn't leave the hotel room at any time that night. The next morning, the morning of the Wall Street shooting, they woke in bed together, had breakfast, and left the hotel around 8.30am. Pierce spent the day at his sister's place, and Wendy returned home. At 2.40am that afternoon, the Special Operations Group officers raided their home looking for Pierce. Wendy stated, quote, I love Victor Pierce very much, and he loves me and his children. I don't know anything about the shooting of the two policemen in Wall Street,

South Yarrow. Wendy's handwritten 3,500-word statement contradicted Jensen Ryan's statement that Victor Pierce was with him, Anthony Farrell, Peter McAvoy, and Jed Horton in the early hours of October 12 at the flat in Gordon Grove. But police knew Wendy was likely to lie to protect Pierce. Police needed another witness to corroborate Jensen's version of events and clean up the discrepancies in his statements. Jed Horton would be of no help. He was still on the run, whereabouts unknown. Peter McAvoy was no help either. His hatred of police would keep him tight He had given police a statement already. In it, he said he was home all night on October 11. No one could corroborate his alibi.

Peter McAvoy was well aware he was under surveillance, and police had planted listening devices. When he was out driving, McAvoy would often bait the officers tailing him by driving slowly up and down Wall Street. Police knew Peter McAvoy would never crack. The only real possibility of another witness supporting Jensen Ryan's statements was his mate Anthony Farrell. Farrell was a 20-year-old criminal with minor convictions. He was a promising up-and-comer with a natural skill for crime, and he was highly regarded by some members of the Flemington crew. To the investigators' frustrations, Farrell did the opposite of what they wanted. He remained loyal to the Flemington crew and turned against his mate Jensen Ryan.

Farrell called Jensen a lying little mongrel. He admitted he was at Jensen's mother's house the day Graham Jensen was killed. He confirmed Peter McAvoy and Jed Horton were also present, and he admitted he heard Peter McAvoy's angry ranting about the police. He even admitted he heard McAvoy say that someone was going to pay and get their right whack. Farrell said he and Jensen left to go to the pub and stayed there drinking until 11pm. But this is where Farrell's story changed from Jensen's. Farrell said that after the pub they returned to Jensen's mother's house. Peter McAvoy and Jed Horton were gone. Jensen went to bed in his room and Farrell slept on the couch. This completely contradicted the Gordon Grove story Jensen had offered police.

Farrell did though, perhaps without realising, implicate Peter McAvoy in his version of events. He confirmed that McAvoy was making threats to kill police after Jensen's death, and he didn't know that by telling police McAvoy wasn't home when he and Jensen got back from the pub. He was contradicting McAvoy's statement that he was home all night. Farrell had no idea his version poked big holes in McAvoy's story, and perhaps if he did he wouldn't have made it. When police put to Farrell that Jensen Ryan was asked by McAvoy to steal a car to use in the Wall Street ambush, Farrell refused to believe this would have happened. He called McAvoy a professional car thief. He didn't believe McAvoy would ever ask Jensen for help. Jensen didn't have

any skill in stealing cars. Privately, police agreed with this. It was far more likely that McAvoy, an experienced car thief, was the person who stole the White Holden Commodore used in the Wall Street ambush, not Jensen Ryan. Farrell denied there was any talk of a police ambush between Peter McAvoy and Jed Horton. He denied McAvoy said they would be weak dogs if they didn't take revenge, and he denied there had been a meeting and his girlfriend's flat in Gordon Grove. The police gave Farrell a short break to have a cigarette and call his grandmother. When he returned, they arrested him for the murders of Stephen Tynan and Damien Eyre. Farrell was stunned. He responded, I'm innocent, I haven't done it.

Anthony Farrell was the first person publicly charged with the Wall Street killings. The community expected a hardened, callous criminal. What they saw was the opposite, a young kid, a nobody in the criminal world. Farrell cried when the charges were brought against him. Police installed a covert listening device in Farrell's cell at the City Watch House in Russell Street. Andrew Fraser, the Flemington crew's go-to defense attorney, visited Farrell and their conversation was recorded. The lawyer saw through the plan. Fraser told Farrell that the police were using him as the weak link in the chain. They were trying to put enormous pressure on him, hoping he would crack. If they confronted Farrell with the possibility of spending the rest of

his life in prison for a crime he didn't commit, perhaps he would turn against the Flemington crew and tell the police who the killers were. Andrew Fraser insisted that the police had no evidence and encouraged Farrell to stay strong. When Farrell voiced his concern that Jason Ryan was talking to police, the lawyer responded, I don't give a fuck what they say about Jason Ryan. If Jason's turned fucking dog, Farrell finished the sentence for him. That's right, Victor would have been pinched by now. Andrew Fraser shushed him and told him not to talk there. Up until this point, Farrell had been accommodating to police, happy to answer their questions. But from this moment on, he sealed his mouth shut. The police had Anthony Farrell and Jason Ryan

in custody for the murders of Stephen Tynan and Damien Eyre. Victor Pierce was also behind bars for the murder of security guard Dominic Hefty. They had eyes on Peter McAvoy 24-7, hoping he would implicate himself, but he was remaining staunch, continuing to taunt surveillance police by driving up and down Wall Street. So their next major task was locating Jed Horton. Jed Horton had a reputation within Victoria Police as being dangerous, cold, and violent. He had been very active in multiple armed bank robberies throughout his life. Unlike Peter McAvoy, Horton was quiet and contemplative. He intimidated people in a sinister, silent kind of way. In turn, his introspectiveness made him paranoid and anxious.

The 23-year-old was on the run. Horton was wanted on warrants for assaulting police, however he was far more concerned about distancing himself from the Wall Street investigation. On October 12th, the day of the Wall Street shooting, he took his motorbike, his new girlfriend, Kim, multiple guns and a police scanner, and headed far from Melbourne. Horton stopped in central regional Victoria. He arrived at the home of Graham Jensen's friend, Paul Whittacomb. Whittacomb lived in Longully, a suburb of the city of Bendigo, 150 kilometres northwest of Melbourne. Whittacomb allowed Horton and his girlfriend Kim to lay low at his place for a while. Seemingly out of the blue, Horton told Whittacomb, there are 200,000 reasons why the

police might want to see me. Whittacomb linked that number to the reward offered for information about the Wall Street shootings. It was then he considered the possibility that Horton was involved. Paul Whittacomb found Horton to be a difficult house guest. He was tense, and Whittacomb felt uncomfortable with Horton's guns inside his house and around his children. Horton told him that police were not going to do to him what they did to Graham Jensen, and that he would put up a fight. Whittacomb had no doubt if police cornered Horton that he would try to shoot his way out. Horton's girlfriend Kim had been chatting to strangers in town, and to the locals got suspicious the couple were on the run. After this, the Whittacombs told the couple it was

time for them to move on. Horton agreed. He and Kim heard of a vacant cabin at Ascot Lodge, a camping ground 10 minutes away, so they made their way there. On November 16th, 1988, they rented cabin number four for two weeks. The next day, Horton was back at the Whittacomb home after being invited to join the Monorabbit hunt. Horton sat at the breakfast table, turning the frequencies on his police scanner. He got up and began circling the Whittacomb house while muttering to himself with the scanner pressed against his ear. As his voice got louder through the scanner, Horton walked towards a window in the lounge room. On the ledge, he found a covert listening device. Whittacomb insisted he had no idea about the listening device.

Agitated, Horton went out to the shed where he left his guns overnight. He fully loaded each handgun and placed one in his pocket, one in a shoulder holster, and two down the front of his pants. They left for their pre-planned rabbit hunt, but Whittacomb cut the event short. Fixated on his police scanner, Horton had become increasingly paranoid. The lack of radio chatter and overhearing the word bike being said made him anxious that the police were on to him. He was wary of returning to Ascot Lodge and instead wanted to move on to New South Wales or Western Australia. But at 10.30 that morning, Horton reluctantly returned to the cabin he and Kim had rented. There were no police in sight. He informed Kim about the listening device he

found at Whittacomb's house and he smoked some marijuana to calm himself which caused him to fall asleep on the bed. Concerned, Kim called the Whittacomb household. Paul Whittacomb's wife assured Kim everything was fine, but then abruptly ended the call. Things didn't seem right. Kim woke Horton and tried to convince him to leave, but he took no action. At midday, Kim grabbed a cigarette. In the corner of her eye she noticed the curtains flicker. A few seconds later, the glass smashed inwards scattering across the room. Special operations group officers stormed to the small cabin with their guns raised. Jed Horton rolled over on the bed with a revolver in his hand. Horton pointed the gun at them and was repeatedly

told to drop it. He refused. Fearing Horton would shoot, two officers fired their pump-action shotguns at him, striking him in the chest and arm. Horton died instantly. Three revolvers, a pistol, as well as a police scanner, were found in the cabin. The covert surveillance operation on Jed Horton was blown the moment he discovered the listening device at the Whittacomb property. The Thai Air Task Force made the decision to move in and arrest him before he had the opportunity to run. The previous day, as Horton and Kim were packing their belongings in Long Gully to move to the cabin at Ascot Lodge, two undercover police officers arrived at the lodge before them. They obtained the key to cabin 4 and drew a rough

floor plan of the interior. They looked for somewhere to screak to plan a listening device, but were unsuccessful. Afterwards, they returned the key to reception and went into cabin number 1 to establish a static surveillance post. When Kim called to check up on the Whittacomb family, police were in the process of raiding the Whittacomb home. That's why the call was ended abruptly. Police tore the Whittacomb house apart and officers held a gun to their son's head, demanding information on Horton. Paul Whittacomb told them everything they wanted to know. Police were made aware Horton was armed and dangerous and expected that a violent confrontation with the wanted criminal was likely. On December 30th, 1988, Victor Pierce was formally charged

with the murders of Stephen Tynan and Damien Ehr. No major breakthroughs in the case had occurred. Police were still hanging onto the statements of Jason Ryan. So far, Victor Pierce, Anthony Farrell and Jason Ryan had all been charged with the Wall Street shootings. Peter McAvoy was still free, but remained under close surveillance, and to the other suspect, Jed Horton, was now dead. Pierce opposed the request by police that he be moved from prison custody into police custody. He felt safer at Pentridge Prison. Jason Ryan remained in protective custody into the new year. He continued to remain unreliable, his story changing yet again.

Now he said he wasn't on Wall Street at the time of the shootings at all. He admitted he didn't steal the Commodore used in the ambush, claiming he stayed behind at the Gordon Grove flat by himself to look after the place. The other men left without him to conduct the ambush and murders. Despite Jason's flip-flopping, police believed this scenario was actually the most likely. Jason had an inability to accurately report details of the Wall Street shootings, such as which direction the Commodore was facing. Images of the Commodore at the crime scene had been featured prominently in the media, yet Jason stated that it was facing the opposite direction. This convinced police he was not at the scene during the ambush. His latest version

still placed Victor Pierce, Peter McAvoy, Jed Horton, and Anthony Farrell at the scene. But five men were witness to fleeing the scene, and Jason did replace himself with someone else in his latest statement. He said the fifth man involved was actually career criminal Gary Abdallah. After Jason's latest statement, the word on the street was that unless 24-year-old Gary Abdallah surrendered himself to police, he would end up like Graham Jensen and Jed Horton. Police raided the homes of Abdallah's acquaintances, and during these raids, police were warned Abdallah might be armed and he wouldn't surrender. Jason Ryan was now telling police Gary Abdallah talked with McAvoy and Horton in

the hours before the Wall Street shooting. According to Jason, it was Abdallah who was tasked with obtaining the getaway vehicles for the ambush, as he had supplied the Flemington crew with stolen cars in the past. On April 9th, 1989, Abdallah told his mother he didn't want to return to his flat in Cartman in case the police were waiting for him, but his mother reassured him. She told him to go and retrieve his belongings. Abdallah got in a car and headed towards his flat. Driving behind him in an unmarked car were two plainclothes detectives, Cliff Lockwood and Dermot Avon. The detectives pulled Abdallah over and searched his car. They discovered a knife in his possession which constituted a crime. He was arrested,

but the detectives didn't handcuff him. They locked his car and placed him into the backseat of their own. They then escorted Abdallah to his cartman flat to search for evidence of other crimes. Inside Abdallah's flat, the detectives found nothing incriminating downstairs. Abdallah was then followed upstairs by Detective Lockwood to continue the search. Detective Lockwood checked each room upstairs, finishing up in the bedroom of an ex-flatmate of Abdallah's. Nothing was found in this last bedroom. Detective Lockwood remained at the doorway of the bedroom, and Detective Avon was further back down the corridor. Detective Lockwood turned to his partner, losing sight of Abdallah for a few seconds. Lockwood told Avon, there's nothing here, let's go. Detective Lockwood

stated that when he turned back, Abdallah was holding a .357 magnum revolver in a two-handed grip and was raising it towards him. Lockwood yelled, put it down, put the fucking thing down. Residents next door heard the words through the walls. They stated they heard Abdallah reply, I'm not doing anything. Detective Lockwood fired all six of his gun's bullets at Abdallah. He then took his partner's gun and fired a final shot. An ambulance was called, and Thai Air Task Force investigators quickly arrived at the scene. They noticed that Detective Lockwood was visibly shaken. They found Detective Avon upstairs giving mouth-to-mouth to Abdallah, who didn't have a pulse. Officers applied a heart massage,

and Abdallah's pulse returned, followed by gargled breathing. When the ambulance arrived, one paramedic noticed the long-barreled revolver on the floor next to Abdallah, and asked the police if it was loaded. The officer responded, I hope so. He then quickly added, I think it is. He raised a finger in front of his lips as a silent message that the walls had ears and to watch what they say. Detective Lockwood defended his actions, stating Gary Abdallah retrieved the gun from a pile of clothes in the bedroom when he looked away. It turned out Abdallah's weapon was an imitation pistol incapable of causing any harm. Whether or not Abdallah knew this, we will never know. Gary Abdallah was taken to St. Vincent's Hospital and fell into a coma.

His family had no idea about the shooting until they saw a news flash on television detailing the event. Doctors informed his family he had six bullet wounds throughout his body. The entry point of his head shot was in the center of the back of his head. Gary Abdallah's family publicly questioned the circumstances of the shooting. If Abdallah was perceived as dangerous, why wasn't he handcuffed, and instead allowed to walk freely around the flat? They refused to believe Abdallah would be reckless enough to point an imitation gun at armed police and think it would survive. Their questions bred more accusations of police corruption. Rumors that Abdallah was unarmed and the gun was planted near his body after the fact

mirrored the rumours surrounding Graham Jensen's death. Detective Lockwood explained Abdallah was standing full frontal to him during the attack. However, his back had five bullet entry wounds, including two in the back of each hand. The final shot fired from Detective Avon's gun by Lockwood, hit Abdallah in the back of the head. Blood spatter and bullet holes in the wall were towards the floor. When asked why he shot Abdallah, Detective Lockwood claimed he believed Abdallah was going to shoot him. As to why he fired seven rounds, Lockwood thought his previous shots had missed because he claimed Abdallah had remained standing until the final bullet. Gary Abdallah's shooting was the first to garner a strong negative community reaction. It was thought by many to

be too excessive and completely unnecessary. Abdallah didn't have the same threatening and extremely violent reputation as Jed Horton and Graham Jensen. Police only wanted to question Abdallah over being a suspect who may have supplied getaway cars for the Wall Street shooting. He was not suspected as one of the cop killers. Police denied the allegations and maintained they were conducting an honest and thorough investigation in the best way they could. Seven months before the Wall Street shootings, on March 31st, 1988, an alert member of staff at a bank in Oak Park noticed four masked, gloved and armed offenders preparing to enter the bank. The staff member quickly pressed a button by her desk. Thick security screens slammed down in front

of the bank's entrance, keeping the offenders out. One of the offenders, undeterred, swungy sledgehammer at the security screen's latch, but it held fast. One of the other offenders stepped forward. He was carrying a sawn-off, single-barrelled pump-action shotgun. He aimed and fired at the latch, but no luck. The sledgehammer was used again to smash a final blow at the screen, but realising time had run out, the offenders gave up and ran away. The armed robbery squad arrived shortly after, but the offenders were already gone. Police collected CCTV footage and a bag to the three empty shotgun cartridges left at the scene. The armed robbery squad always believed the Flemington crew was behind this attempted robbery

in Oak Park, but no one had been charged and the Flemington crew's involvement was only speculative. A huge breakthrough came in the Wall Street investigation when the shotgun shells found at that crime scene were matched to the shotgun shells from this Oak Park attempted robbery seven months earlier. The same shotgun was used in both crimes. Flipping through a gun magazine, a task force investigator saw a photo inside that matched the shotgun used in the Oak Park robbery as seen on the CCTV footage. The shotgun featured in the magazine was a Japanese KTG pump-action shotgun. The Oak Park robbery was committed with this type of shotgun, only it had its barrel sawn off. Criminals manually sawed off the barrels of shotguns

to make the weapon easier to conceal and use in confined spaces. The Japanese KTG was remarkably powerful. Its intense firepower could easily punch holes through metal plates, so investigators now knew for certain that the Wall Street murder weapon was a sawn-off Japanese KTG shotgun. Investigators were aware that two Japanese KTG shotguns had been stolen from a gun shop in Melbourne the previous year. One of the stolen shotguns had since been recovered by police and destroyed. Task force investigators traced every single other Japanese KTG shotgun imported to Australia and their owners. Each shotgun was accounted for and they were all eliminated as the shotgun used in the Oak Park robbery as they all still had their full barrels attached.

The only Japanese KTG shotgun not accounted for was the second stolen shotgun from the Melbourne store. Therefore, it was this stolen shotgun that was without a doubt used in both the Oak Park attempted robbery and the Wall Street shooting. Police needed concrete proof that the Flemington crew committed this Oak Park attempted armed robbery, as this would prove the crew had the shotgun in their possession prior to the Wall Street shooting. On May 1st, 1989, Victoria Police got another breakthrough. A council gardener for the Royal Park Golf Course in Parkville, a suburb bordering the north of Melbourne, discovered a partially buried green bag behind some bushes off the fifth hole. The bag wasn't well hidden. Inside the bag was a rusted,

sawn-off Japanese KTG pump-action shotgun. The gardener weeded the same area five weeks earlier and didn't see the bag at that time. He also found two torn-off sleeves of a brown jumper, approximately 30 metres from the shotgun's location. The sleeves had been torn off the jumper that had been stolen from the car on Wall Street the morning of the shooting. It was assumed the killers used the sleeves as makeshift balaclavas. So police now had possession of the items used by the killers during the Wall Street shooting. However, there was no evidence to determine conclusively who had the items prior to them being dumped at the golf course. On the night of May 9th, 1989, Peter McAvoy fronted a late-night news program. He believed

the police intended to kill him, so he professed his innocence in relation to Wall Street and said he didn't pose a threat to anyone. By going public, there was no way police could shoot him without everyone in Melbourne believing it was premeditated, no matter what the circumstances. The next day, May 10th, Peter McAvoy was arrested and charged with the Wall Street murders. Police had let McAvoy run free since the shootings, but tied him down with surveillance officers as well as tracking and listening devices. McAvoy was aware of this, so he didn't say or do anything incriminating the entire time. He was sticking to his at-home all-night story, which couldn't be corroborated. Police decided that McAvoy wasn't going to reveal anything to

them as a free man, so they locked him up. Peter McAvoy was an imposing bald figure, standing at 190 centimetres tall. His large forehead reminded his friends of the alien E.T., and his mates gave him the nickname Bubblegrain as a joke. McAvoy first came to the attention of police in the mid-1970s over a series of rapes in the Victorian suburb of Heidelberg. He was 20 years old at the time, and was a member of a gang that abducted, tortured, and sexually assaulted up to 24 teenage girls. He traded his trial with contempt. He was found guilty of two counts of rape, acquitted of others, and three of the charges were withdrawn. To police, McAvoy was the epitome of a coward. He presented himself as hard, loud, and aggressive, but he liked to target women

and young girls. The heed on McAvoy did have one positive outcome. His criminal associates knew he was hot, and they cut him out of all illegal operations, which resulted in the end of his income from crime. McAvoy caused no trouble when he was arrested. He joined Victor Pierce, Anthony Farrell, and Jason Ryan, charged with the murders of Stephen Tynan and Damien Eyre. Whilst on remand awaiting trial, McAvoy was given a copy of the prosecution brief. Within these documents were copies of the evidence photos taken of the two murdered policemen. A remand officer recalled how McAvoy would gleefully show the gruesome photos to other prisoners. The officer spoke of McAvoy's smile during those moments, quote,

It was a smile that exuded pure evil, and at that point I knew he was as guilty as sin. On May 19th, Gary Abdullah had been in a coma for 40 days. The bullet shot by Detective Lockwood was still embedded in the back of his brain. Gary Abdullah never regained consciousness. The next and final suspect Jason Ryan offered up to police was his uncle, Trevor Peddingill. 22-year-old Trevor Peddingill was the youngest son of Kath Peddingill and was Victor Pierce's younger half-brother. He was a convicted criminal, but had only done time for relatively minor drug trafficking offences. Jason told police that Peddingill was also involved in the Wall Street ambush. However, he wasn't able to provide the exact details of his role in the crime. Jason

spoke to Peddingill at Graham Jensen's funeral a few days after Wall Street. Jason asked Peddingill what his role was in the shootings, but he refused to answer. Peddingill threatened that he and the others would kill Jason if he told anyone anything. The distrustful resentment Trevor Peddingill had towards his nephew Jason seemed plausible to police. Jason had implicated Peddingill in other crimes in the past. It didn't seem far-fetched that if Peddingill was involved in Wall Street, he would keep his involvement secret from his right nephew. Peddingill was not aware Jason implicated him in the Wall Street shootings. He was aware, however, police were watching him and had bugged his phone. Peddingill gave the police nothing of value, except a few phone calls mentioning

the makes, models and registration numbers of the undercover vehicle's tailing. About two months after the Wall Street shootings, Trevor Peddingill opened his front door and was abducted by a group of hooded men carrying shotguns. They tied his hands and threw him in the back of the car and sped off. The hooded men took Peddingill to a secluded area of bushland where they attacked him with a sledgehammer. The only thing the attackers told him was, go to the police, tell the truth. Peddingill required surgery after the attack. He believed his attackers were members of the Victorian police force. There was no evidence to prove this accusation. As the trial for the murders of Stephen Tynan and Damien Ayer approached, investigators felt Trevor Peddingill also had

a case to answer, so he too was charged. He was the fifth and final person charged with the Wall Street shooting. The year 1989 started with the final police raid of Wendy and Victor Pierce's family home. This should have been a relief for Wendy Pierce, whose home had been so frequently raided since the Wall Street shootings, she had stopped reattaching doors to door frames. But what remained of her home after this final raid was a mound of rubble. Ownership of the Pierce home was given from the deceased estate of Victor Pierce's brother Dennis Allen to the tax office as an asset against Dennis Allen's tax on undeclared income. This allowed police to completely demolish the home. The building was literally pulled apart piece by piece by police

searching for evidence. Heavy machinery tore down the roof and walls and the ground was ripped up from two metres down. All police found were a couple of bullets and two more buried handguns, believed or belonged to Dennis Allen. Police posed for photos in front of the remnants of the Pierce home. An image of a miserable Wendy Pierce standing amongst the broken remains of her home with her young daughter in her arms was featured across the front pages of Victoria's newspapers. Wendy Pierce was once a bright business student making her respectable law-abiding parents proud. Her life and her behaviour changed dramatically when she met and fell in love with Victor Pierce and joined the renowned Pentagon crime family. Together the couple

had four children. Without any sense of guilt or shame Wendy's new life consisted of witnessing, committing and concealing many crimes. Wendy's greed allowed her to accept and encourage her husband's criminal lifestyle. Victor Pierce committed over 20 successful armed robberies netting large amounts of cash. After one particular armed bank robbery, Pierce bought home a massive score of $200,000. Wendy wasted it all. Daily shopping sprees racked up bills of thousands of dollars for expensive clothes, jewellery and alcohol. Everything Wendy could ever want. By July 1989, eight months after the Wall Street shootings, Wendy was broke, homeless and relying on friends and family for help. Police kept trying to get her to

turn against Pierce and give up being his false alibi. They threatened her children would end up in state care. But there was one thing police hadn't destroyed of Wendy's, her love for Victor Pierce. She wouldn't give him up. That changed though when police gave Wendy letters they had confiscated from Pierce in prison. They were love letters, only they weren't to Wendy. They were love letters to a few of her friends. Pierce had multiple affairs with a variety of women throughout his relationship with Wendy. Wendy had suspicions this was going on and these letters confirmed it. She felt betrayed. This revelation changed Wendy. She offered the police a deal. If she was promised immunity from prosecution and protection from Victor Pierce,

she would agree to tell police the truth about Wall Street. Wendy Pierce was placed in witness protection on Saturday the 15th of July 1989. Four days later, Wendy gave her first police interview since changing sides where she began to unravel the tightly woven Victor Pierce. Pierce hated police. He called them maggots and dogs. He said he would love to knock them dogs. His intense hatred of law enforcement was so vicious that made Wendy scared to be with him. According to Wendy, Pierce owned a pump action shotgun and prior to Wall Street, a conversation between the couple took place in their back shed. During this conversation, Pierce was soaring off the barrel of the shotgun.

He told Wendy, this will be a beauty witch. Which was the nickname Pierce had given his wife? Wendy was shown a number of different sawn-off shotguns by police. They asked her to point to the one that resembled the shotgun Pierce owned. Confidently, Wendy pointed to the sawn-off Japanese KTG pump action shotgun. Wendy identified Victor Pierce, Jed Horton, Graham Jensen and Peter McAvoy in security images of an armed bank robbery committed in January 1988, 10 months before the Wall Street shootings. The four men robbed a bank in Ringwood and scored just over $200,000. Wendy identified Jed Horton as the one who held the sawn-off shotgun during the robbery.

Police already knew the shotgun in their security photos was the same sawn-off Japanese KTG shotgun used in the Oak Park attempted robbery in March 1988, which was the same shotgun used in the Wall Street shootings in October 1988. They now had confirmation from Wendy that the Flemington crew had possession of the Wall Street murder weapon prior to the Wall Street shootings. Previous statements, Wendy gave police claiming Pierce was with her at the hotel in Tullamarine the entire morning of October 12th were lies fed to her by him. She was afraid he would kill her if she didn't do what he said. Pierce had previously told her that once you're in the family, you're in and the only way out is in a wooden box. Wendy confessed that Pierce did leave the hotel on

October 11. As their young children slept, he and Wendy watched the late-night news. When Graham Jensen's death was mentioned, Pierce said, the fucking maggots, look what they've done to my mate. Around 11pm, the couple were in bed together. After 20 minutes, Pierce carefully slid out, believing Wendy had fallen asleep. He quietly got dressed and took the motel key from the bedside table. Pierce walked to the door and closed it gently behind him. When Wendy fell him crawl back into bed, she opened her eyes and saw daylight outside. It was around 7am. She turned over to hug him and he was wearing different clothing to what he had on the night before. He had a dark coloured night-brand t-shirt on that he didn't own previously. The suspicion that Pierce and

members of his Flemington crew were responsible for the Wall Street shootings were confirmed. Pierce viewed the armed robbery squad as a self-appointed hit team determined to execute criminals, including Victor's friends and himself. So Victor wanted revenge. After Graham Jensen's death, Wendy and Pierce were together. Crying from anger, Pierce said, they'll get knocked tonight. He then spoke to Peter McAvoy on the phone. Wendy heard Pierce say, we'll knock them tonight, knock the Jacks tonight, the ones that killed Graham. Jack is slang for police officer, often used by criminals. After this initial phone call, Pierce told Peter McAvoy that they'd

speak again in a couple of hours. Wendy also made an unexpected confession. She stated that in May 1988, she commenced a sexual relationship with Graham Jensen, and it continued up until the time he died. The two secret lovers met two or three times a week at different locations, and Victor Pierce was unaware of the affair. Police were shocked and were left to wonder how events would have changed if Pierce had known Jensen was having an affair with his wife. Would Pierce have been so fiercely loyal to avenge Jensen's death if he knew his best mate was betraying him the entire time? As the time in witness protection progressed, Wendy's version of events on October 11 and 12 became far more detailed. Originally,

she claimed Pierce snuck out of the Tullamarine Inn while she slept and returned shortly after daybreak the following morning. Wendy now revealed she was actually awake and speaking with Pierce before he left the hotel. Watching Pierce prepare to leave, she asked where he was going. He said he was going to meet Peter McAvoy, and they were going to get Pierce's shotgun and use it to kill a policeman. When Pierce returned to the next morning, Wendy asked what had happened during the night. It's all sweet, Pierce told her. We knocked two jacks, just two policemen in South Yarrow. Wendy asked who he was with, and Pierce replied, McA and Jed and Abdullah. McA was Peter McAvoy's nickname.

Wendy became the prosecution's best witness. She corroborated facts in Jason Ryan's statements and added more of her own. From a juror's perspective, Wendy Pierce would be a far more credible witness than Jason Ryan. The court would be told Wendy had initially lied to police because she was afraid her violent, murderous husband would kill her. Once Wendy was honest with police, her story never changed. She only elaborated further on details. Wendy would be portrayed as a good person who reluctantly fell into a life of crime when she fell in love with Victor Pierce. For 13 years, she was stuck in one of the most notorious criminal families in the history of Victoria and was a battered wife. While she was in witness protection, Wendy Pierce

commenced sexual relationships with several of her police protectors. Love letters covered in lipstick kisses she had written to her protectors were exposed in the media. Wendy was also prone to dramatic emotional meltdowns. She demanded police take her to nightclubs, restaurants and hotels. If denied, she threatened to refuse to give evidence. She continued to shoplift and drive unlicensed, knowing the police wouldn't risk punishing her and losing their star witness. Wendy treated witness protection as an all-expenses-paid holiday. Investigators were forced to turn a blind eye to her behaviour. They needed Wendy on site to testify. Their investigation relied far too much on her testimony. There was no

concrete evidence to back up anything she told police, so they needed her to verify everything in court. In total, Wendy Pierce's time spent in witness protection cost Victorian taxpayers $2 million. In the days leading up to the trial, Wendy Pierce suddenly changed her mind and refused to testify. Two stark interpretations of Wendy emerged amongst the police who spent months protecting her. Some considered her betrayal as completely unexpected, while others believed it was inevitable. Wendy Pierce and her 31-page statement implicating Victor Pierce and the other accused was out. As one officer put it, quote, a leopard never changes her spots. Wendy manipulated the witness protection scheme

and the members that were guarding her. Other investigators preferred to believe Wendy had every intention to testify. They were of the belief that Victor Pierce must have found a way to contact her in the days before the trial, convincing her or threatening her not to testify. Furthermore, Wendy became incredibly hostile towards police. She began saying that everything she said implicating Victor were lies forced out of her. She said she had been put through hell by gangsters with badges and that she would only testify at the trial if she could tell the court how the police tortured her for false information. The prosecution team made the decision they would not label Wendy Pierce a hostile witness and they wouldn't force her to take the stand.

They believed their case would be stronger without her given her complete backflip. Task Force investigators disagreed. They believed Wendy should have been treated as a hostile witness and put before the jury to let them make up their own minds. Nevertheless, the prosecution case was not over when Wendy Pierce backfliped. They still had Jason Ryan. They were confident justice would prevail. On the 21st of January 1991, just over two years after the Wall Street shooting, the trial for the murders of Constable Stephen Tyner and Damien Ayer began in the Supreme Court of Victoria in Melbourne. The accused, Victor Pierce, Peter McAvoy, Anthony Farrell and Trevor Pettingill, fronted a jury of 12 men. Murder charges against Jason Ryan were withdrawn

in agreement for him to testify against his co-accused. Wendy Pierce's defection put all the pressure on Jason Ryan. As soon as Jason took the stand, his credibility was torn to shreds by the defense. He was a proven and constant liar, untrustworthy and a drug abuser. Not even the prosecution could reasonably deny this character description. The prosecution case heavily relied on an apparent two-for-one pact of retribution made between the accused after Graham Jensen's death. They argued, the accused, along with the now deceased Jed Horton and Gary Abdullah, killed the two police officers as payback for the killing of one of their own. But for each prosecution witness who confirmed the existence of this pact, the defense were able to discredit their

character, testimony and motivations. One witness's testimony revealed he had spoken to Trevor Pettingill about the rumors he was involved in the Wall Street murders. According to the witness, Pettingill stated, quote, Yeah, we've done it because of what happened to Graham. For every one of us that goes, two of theirs will go. But Trevor Pettingill denied this conversation ever took place. The defense argued this witness was lying to the court in an attempt to obtain the $200,000 reward offered for information that led to a conviction. After seven weeks and to 94 witnesses, the jurors deliberated for six days. The assumption throughout the court was that Trevor Pettingill would be acquitted, but the other accused would be found guilty.

On March 26, 1991, the jury returned to court with their verdict. For the charges of murdering Constable Stephen Tynan and Constable Damien Eyre, all four accused men were found. Not guilty. The four accused clapped, cheered and hugged each other. Their supporters were elated. Police officers sat stunned and silent. Two and a half years of investigation wasted. One officer commented that there was a big difference between being found not guilty and actually being innocent. The judge thanked the jury who filed out with their heads bowed. After the verdict, Peter McAvoy turned to a nearby police officer and gloated.

What do you think about that? The officer mumbled a reply and McAvoy yelled, I'll fix you. Is that what you said? I'll be waiting. I'm not afraid to die. Peter McAvoy and Victor Pierce remained in custody, pending armed robbery charges for the Ringwood Bank robbery in 1988. Outside court, McAvoy spat at police who put him back into the prison van. He yelled loudly, you're going to kill us, aren't you? You're fucking going to kill us. Victor Pierce and Peter McAvoy were later found guilty for the Ringwood Bank robbery in which the Wall Street murder weapon was used. The charge of murdering security guard Dominic Hefty was dropped against Victor Pierce during committal proceedings. It turns out that Hefty's

murder had nothing to do with Victor Pierce or the Flemington crew at all. A well-known violent offender Santo McCurry was later convicted of the murder. Trevor Paddingill and Anthony Farrell walked straight out of court and were rushed into a car for a pre-planned paid interview with the media. They were given wine to celebrate. Police high command insisted there must now be peace. The following message was sent over police radio. The verdict in the Wall Street trial was all four not guilty. Repeat, not guilty. All units are warned. Keep yourselves under control. For the Tynan and Deir families, the verdict set the guilty free. Frank Eyre, Damien's father, received a letter from one of the jurors' wives after the trial. The letter candidly

revealed the difficulty the jurors had in determining the verdict. Quote, There was not one piece of evidence, not one eyewitness, not one fact that could give those jurors a right to bring in a guilty verdict. Not one of the jurors slept for two nights before the verdict, desperately seeking one vital clue to make the decision their hearts were telling them was right. Each of the jurors was deeply disturbed and traumatized by the trial, and the verdict they were forced to make. At the end of 1992, Wendy Pierce was found guilty of perjury and served nine months imprisonment as she had taken the oath in a pre-trial hearing. She continued to defend her husband and continued to profess his innocence in the Wall Street shooting.

In a stunning development, eight armed robbery squad officers were charged with murder in relation to Graham Jensen's death. The homicide squad detective who investigated the Jensen shooting, John Hill, was also charged with being in accessory after the fact to murder. They alleged John Hill concealed evidence suggesting police were criminally liable. A modest and introverted man but highly respected, John Hill always maintained his innocence. He felt his integrity had been destroyed when he was charged. Despite colleagues reminding Hill that previously suspended officers had gone on to reach high rank, Hill felt his career was over. Depression overwhelmed him and he

committed suicide two months after he was charged. In his suicide note, he wrote, No doubt the media will speculate and others will see this as some sort of admission of guilt. Categorically, it is no such thing. I have always believed and still do that the Jensen shooting was a self-defense situation. Members of Victoria Police believed the charges against John Hill were flimsy and would have been dropped before getting to trial. John Hill's death does not appear on any list that names police who have died in the line of duty. The charges against seven of the other police members involved in Jensen's death were eventually dropped. Only one of the officers charged made it to trial, Robert Hill, who fired the two fatal shots that killed Jensen.

Robert Hill is no relation to John Hill who investigated the shooting. In the Supreme Court on August 9, 1995, Robert Hill was acquitted of murder. It took the jury just 18 minutes to decide the prosecution had not established a strong enough case for the trial to continue. It had been seven years since Graham Jensen left his girlfriend's home to buy a spark plug for his lawnmower. The investigation into Jensen's death cost $4 million. Robert Hill is now the Assistant Commissioner of Victoria Police. A former detective told the Australian newspaper that the acquittal of the four men charged with the Wall Street murders devastated the entire police force and to the acquittal of Robert Hill

devastated all of the crooks. That was zero zero. Cliff Lockwood, the detective who shot Gary Abdullah seven times, emptying his own revolver before grabbing his partner's gun and unloading a final shot, was also charged with murder. After five hours of deliberation by a jury, he was found not guilty. Jensen Ryan was taken out of witness protection and relocated with a new identity. In 1991, Jensen was drug free, had a girlfriend and was fit and well. He claimed he would forever live in fear of retribution from his family. He said the acquittal left him feeling hollow and ill. After serving his time in prison for the Ringwood Bank robbery he committed in 1988, Victor Pierce issued a statement. He maintained his innocence regarding Wall Street and requested,

quote, to be left alone to work and prove to the community I'm not as bad as police and the press have made me out to be. He and Wendy Pierce continued their relationship. On May 1st, 2002, in what was perceived as long-awaited justice, 44-year-old Victor Pierce was murdered. Bearing an eerie similarity to the Wall Street shootings, Victor was shot behind the wheel of his Holden Commodore in Port Melbourne by a gangly and hitman. He was pronounced dead on arrival to Alfred Hospital. The same hospital Constable's Tyne and Adair were taken to 14 years earlier. His widow Wendy Pierce lamented, quote, my life will be so empty now, you will always be my everything. Following her husband's death, Wendy Pierce lived a lonely life,

claiming she was a secondary victim of her husband's murder she applied for and was granted compensation, $153,000 in total. The public still harboured strong resentment towards Wendy and were outraged at the payout. Depressed, medicated, broke and living in public housing, Wendy's life was in pieces. In the years since Wall Street, her criminal in-laws had become strangers to her. Her retellings of the horrors she witnessed within that family, such as the time she witnessed her brother and Lord Dennis Allen chop up a dead body with a chainsaw, were met with apathy from the public. When in the same breath, she admitted she found it all rather hysterical. The infamy made Wendy a momentary, though hated, celebrity. For a long time,

she enjoyed the communities loathing of her. She would ring talkback radio stations and argue passionately with the hosts about herself and her husband. But as years passed, she backed away from the limelight. She kept her window blinds drawn and she rarely ventured out. With her compensation money quickly spent, she struggled to pay even minor traffic fines. When her 24-year-old daughter died of a drug overdose, Wendy said, quote, I now know what it's like to lose a child. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. In October 2005, 17 years after Wall Street, Wendy Pierce spoke to the media once more. She said the time and the day her families were owed the truth of how their sons died.

She admitted she never intended to give evidence at the trial. Her decision to go into witness protection was a plan orchestrated by her family to sabotage the prosecution from the inside. Communication with Victor was maintained during this time via letters and photos. Third parties would visit both Victor and Wendy and would relay messages between the two. In this 2005 media interview, Wendy stated once again that her late husband, Victor Pierce, was responsible for organising the killings of the Constables on October 12th, 1988. She said Peter McAvoy, Jed Horton and Gary Abdullah were his accomplices. She alleged that Jed Horton was the shotgun's trigger man and the killer of Stephen Tynan,

and that Peter McAvoy stepped in and killed Damien Eyre with his own gun. Gary Abdullah was the one whose style implanted the Commodore used in the ambush. According to Wendy, Anthony Farrell and Trevor Pettingill didn't take part in the ambush at all. Wendy had no regrets for refusing to testify, quote, I loved Victor. I can't change that. I can't take back what I've done. But it was all worth nothing. If I say sorry, most people won't believe me. In 2007, Peter McAvoy was arrested in New South Wales for making threats to kill police. He stated, quote, I can't wait to put a shotgun to your fucking head,

loaded with a solid, and watch your fucking head get blown off. The sweetest thing I ever heard was the police officer's last words while he was dying. McAvoy was found guilty of making this threat and fined $300. Trevor Pettingill later served time for drug trafficking. Now he, Peter McAvoy, and Anthony Farrell are all free men. They still claim their innocence. In 2015, a request was made to the coroner by family members of Graham Jensen, asking to reopen the inquiry into his death.

This request was made based on new information from a former detective who was running the surveillance operation on Jensen when he was shot. The former detective said he was prepared to give evidence that he saw a detective from the armed robbery squad planted gun after the shooting. But this former detective provided a statement at the time of the shooting and appeared at the original inquest, where he made no mention of this. He is a former detective because he was arrested and convicted of drug trafficking in the early 2000s. Another former detective now retired has also come forward and is offering to name the armed robbery squad detective who planted the gun. After looking at this new evidence, the Victorian

state coroner ruled that all official documentation relating to the death of Graham Jensen be suppressed until 2021, including a decision on whether or not to reopen the inquest into his death. The Tynan Air Foundation was founded by the parents of the slain constables after their death. 10 years later, it was renamed the Blue Ribbon Foundation after the shooting murders of two more Victoria police officers, Sergeant Gary Silk and senior constable Rodney Miller. As of 2017, 159 Victoria police officers have died on duty. Of these, 30 were murdered. The Blue Ribbon Foundation raises awareness of the dangers police officers face on a daily basis, honours the memories of those killed, and supports victims' families throughout Australia.

Still hanging inside the Peran police station are the portraits of constable Stephen Tynan and Damien Air. If the killers were trying to make a point and take revenge on who they perceived as corrupt officers, they couldn't have picked two worst targets. Stephen Tynan and Damien Air were good, honest police officers. The Victoria police force has been committed to remembering the young constables and reflecting on their sacrifice. After their deaths, Stephen Tynan and Damien Air were both awarded the National Police Service Medal. Damien Air's father, Frank, says the telling and retelling of the Wall Street story is crucial, as no one has been brought to justice for the murders. To this day, despite the sadness it brings him,

he encourages people to talk about what happened to his son. Quote, I haven't given up. Once you do, it gets forgotten, and it's not going to get forgotten. Frank Air says police officers need to continue to put themselves on the line for the community, no matter what had happened in the past to other officers, including his son. On April 4th, 2017, Stephen Tynan's father, Kevin Tynan, died at the age of 80 after a short illness. Kevin never came to terms with his son's death and the fact his killers never went to jail. His hope for justice returned briefly in 2011, when double jeopardy laws were changed and it seemed as though charges might be reinstated. But it was deemed there wasn't

enough compelling new evidence to lay new murder charges. Kevin Tynan died without the closure of justice for his son. Since the late 1980s, crime in Victoria has changed completely. Professional armed bank robbers that plagued Melbourne at the time of Stephen Tynan and Damien Air's deaths are virtually non-existent today. Damien Air wanted nothing more than to be a proud member of Victoria Police, just like his father and brother. On his Victoria Police application, he wrote, quote, as most of my family are in the Victoria Police force, I believe I have a good knowledge of the force as a whole and how it operates. This has been a lifelong ambition and I respect the Victoria Police force very much.

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