Mark Bombara inquest reveals emergency call mishandled in Perth murders
An inquest found Perth police mishandled a 000 call and failed to seize a killer's firearms.
An inquest looked at the deaths of Jennifer Petelczyc and her 18-year-old daughter Gretl in Perth's Floreat suburb. The inquest found serious failures in police response.
Mark Bombara killed both women before taking his own life on May 24, 2024. When police got a triple-0 call, it reported shots fired and a gunman in the home.
They wrongly labeled it as priority-two instead of priority-one. This was a life-threatening emergency.
A senior police commander told the court the judgment was wrong. The inquest also heard Bombara recorded himself shooting his victims.
In the months before, Rowena and her daughter Ariel had called police many times. They shared safety concerns and told police Bombara had access to firearms.
Yet officers did not take his weapons. Eight officers were later disciplined for poor risk assessment.
Why it mattersThe inquest shows gaps in how police check domestic violence risk and which emergency calls they put first. This raises questions about keeping people safe in similar cases.
AustraliaThe failures revealed in this Western Australia inquest may prompt police across Australia to review emergency call protocols and domestic violence risk assessment procedures.
