Melbourne Cafe Shooting: Crowd seen scrambling as people run for cover after gunfire outside Altona North cafe; watch here

Melbourne Cafe Shooting: A shooting broke out outside a café in Melbourne’s south-west overnight on Tuesday (March 17, 2026), prompting a large group of men to run for cover as one of them was shot. The incident was captured on a CCTV camera. In the camera footage, a large group of people were seen sitting outside the Cafe Squared eatery on Borrack Square in Altona North about 11.30pm when a white Toyota Hilux drove up and shots were fired into the crowd, as reported by 9News.

Following the brazen drive-by shooting incident, police officials were at the scene carrying out an investigation. A crime scene was established, and the investigation was ongoing, Victoria Police said.

According to police, the incident could be connected to an illegal tobacco trade. The victim of the shooting was identified as a 49-year-old man, who was shot twice in the arm and was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to 9News. The victim is known to police, but authorities are unsure whether he was the intended target.





All those involved in the shooting reportedly fled the scene in a stolen silver Hilux with cloned plates. The vehicle was stolen from a Newport home in February 2026.

Offenders set car on fire

Hours after the shooting, the alleged offenders torched the car at about 2.50am and left it burning at the intersection of McArthur's and Chambers roads, about 800 metres from where the shooting took place.

Police share details

Speaking about the shooting incident, Detective Inspector Graham Banks told 9News, "It may well be just a random shooting of that crowd of people to send a message."

"The conflict we see at the moment is seeing random acts of violence that are directed at people whom they perceive as opposing people. At this stage we're not ruling anything in or out as far as what the motive would be or as far as the people who were there or the location itself," he further stated.

Witnesses told the news outlet that they have no connections to the illicit tobacco trade.