Fatal collision after botched armed robbery
A man allegedly fleeing a botched armed robbery has died after the car he was driving collided with another vehicle at Wonga Park.
The man was travelling with another person in a blue Ford Falcon when it collided with a white Nissan Patrol on Homestead Road about 3.15pm Wednesday.
Police said the car was earlier seen leaving the scene of an attempted armed robbery at a nearby business.
Witnesses said two men demanded cigarettes and cash from the owner of Wonga Park Cellars on Yarra Road about 3.10pm, with one of them wielding a hammer.
Shane Rees, owner of the post office next to the general store and bottle shop, said he heard the store owner’s calls for help and confronted one of the men before they fled.
A cellars at Wonga Park were two men demanded cash and cigarettes.Credit:Nine
“It’s quite confronting to see someone wielding a hammer and you don’t know what they’re thinking,” he said.
“I’m a big guy and he was a bit shorter and skinnier, so I think he felt intimidated. I asked him to leave and put the hammer down.”
Police said there were no injuries, and nothing was taken.
Rees’ family have run the post office for 11 years and said it wasn’t the first time armed robbers had targeted the liquor store.
“They’ve had a couple of incidents of people, like a few kids, trying to steal alcohol,” he said.
“They got ram-raided a few years ago by two people.”
Police said the driver of the blue Ford died at the scene. His passenger, a 25-year-old man, was arrested at the scene and was assisting police with their inquiries.
The driver of the Nissan Patrol was not injured.
“It’s never nice to hear someone passed away, but it could have gone a completely different way,” Rees said.
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