A bikie shooting at an Adelaide cafe was related to a marital dispute, the restaurant's owner says.
Associates of the Comanchero outlaw motorcycle gang were sitting at Cafe Paesano in North Adelaide on Sunday night, when one of them opened fire at a man who was approaching them, police said.
Cafe Paesano part-owner Gianni Cavuoto, who went to the restaurant after the attack, believes the shooting was related to a marital dispute.
Mr Cavuoto said he was worried about patronage, but the shooting had not affected bookings.
"It's business as usual. The show goes on," Mr Cavuoto told AAP on Monday.
He said there was no damage at the restaurant, and police had taken the cafe's surveillance footage of the incident, which happened about 9.40pm.
Mr Cavuoto said the shooting could have happened anywhere but a patron of the cafe said the bikies were regulars.
Police Assistant Commissioner Grant Stevens refused to confirm whether the men exchanged gunfire, but media reports said the approaching man fired first and was shot in the leg.
Mr Stevens said the man who approached the cafe, and who was known to the Comanchero associates, fled the scene after being wounded.
He was pursued by the gunman and further shots were fired, Mr Stevens said.
SA Opposition Leader Isobel Redmond said the attack was shocking and unacceptable.
"Not only does someone come into a restaurant with a weapon, but even more (shocking is) that someone in the restaurant has a weapon and returns fire," she told journalists on Monday.
Mr Stevens said police believed the incident was connected to Thursday's shooting of Comanchero leader Vincenzo Focarelli, who remains in hospital with a gunshot wound to the leg.
But Mr Stevens denied there was an escalating war between rival bikie gangs.
"These incidents can be tracked to specific disputes in that (bikie) context, (but) this is not a bikie war where we have warring gangs, drawing lines in the sand," he told journalists on Monday.
He said the shootings, including an incident on Saturday morning when three men wearing balaclavas fired shots into a house at Burton in Adelaide's north, were isolated events.
heraldsun 19 Dec 2011
Another example of how the drug wars are spilling out onto the streets, where innocent people can get hurt.
The police are fully aware of the movements of these criminals, but do not incarcerate them.
Another government failure to keep the general populous safe, or is that not on the agenda anymore?
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