Woman shot in bungled heist

By Tania Martin
TWO armed bandits threatened to blow off an Olinda restaurant manager’s head as they attempted to steal his bag of bread rolls.
Instead, one of the raiders ended up shooting the other in the bungled Sunday night heist.
It had been a usual working day for Peter Uwe Schmidt, the manager of the Cuckoo Restaurant, and president Horst Lantzsch when they closed up the restaurant in the early hours of Monday morning – that’s until they reached the car park.
“Peter got to his car and someone jumped out of the bushes near the beer garden,” Mr Lantzsch said.
Mr Uwe Schmidt was carrying a black garbage bag full of bread rolls and he told the two attackers that the bag only had bread rolls in it.
“They just shouted at him – ‘give me the bag or I’ll blow your head off’,” he said.
Mr Lantzsch said the two bandits were standing side by side but when Mr Uwe Schmidt started to hand over the bag of bread rolls, a gun went off and hit the other would-be robber in the stomach.
It then became apparent that the injured attacker was a woman.
“The man then picked up the woman and carried her across the road to sit her down on the corner of Bellavista Crescent,” Mr Lantzsch said.
The two Cuckoo staff than ran run back inside the restaurant and locked the doors.
At this stage Mr Lantzsch’s wife, Anita, was waiting for him in another car in the car park so he yelled at her to lock the car doors and lie low.
“Once everyone was back inside I ran out the back fire exit and got my wife out of the car and into the restaurant to safety,” Mr Lantzsch said.
They called the police and for the next two hours the three stayed in the restaurant while the police blocked off Mt Dandenong Tourist Road.
Mr Lantzsch said after the woman was shot and taken across to Bellavista Crescent a white car pulled up next to the bandits.
The woman was taken to the Angliss Hospital with serious gunshot wounds and on Monday was said to be in a serious but stable condition.
Her accomplice was arrested about an hour later.
Mr Lantzsch said the restaurant staff, although shaken up by the attempted robbery, where concerned about the woman’s health.
“We are a family restaurant and were very concerned about the woman’s family when we found out she had children,” he said.
“Although it was wrong for her to try and hold us up – we feel that a life is more important.”
Mr Lantzsch said he was disappointed that someone would hold-up the Cuckoo restaurant and that the staff would never carry cash out of the restaurant and that most meals at the restaurant are paid for by credit card. Mr Lantzsch said Mr Uwe Schmidt was now suffering from shock and would seek medical attention to help deal with the incident.
He said it was disappointing that the Cuckoo was now connected to an armed robbery.
“A shoot out is not something you would hear about in Australia and it makes us unhappy that it happened to us.”
The attempted hold-up comes just days after a Monbulk bakery was broken into. Sherbrooke Bakery in Main Street was broken into shortly after 1.30am on Wednesday, 28 March.
Sergeant Alan Fincher of Monbulk Police said two men and a female smashed a whole in the front door of the bakery and assaulted the baker who was working at the time.
He said the baker suffered minor injuries, which needed medical attention, and a couple of drinks were stolen from the fridge.
•Police have charged a 37-year-old Brooklyn man in relation to robbery and shooting.