Commissioner Col Blanch has announced the police force is adopting 18 recommendations regarding its domestic violence and firearms processes following the investigation into Mark Bombara, 63, fatally shooting Jennifer Petelczyc and her 18-year-old daughter Gretl in May 2024.
Blanch fronted media this afternoon to admit police failed to adequately respond to Mark Bombara’s daughter Ariel Bombara and her mother’s warnings about the serious risk Mark posed.
“I am standing here admitting those errors,” Blanch said.
“We got it wrong… But we are committed to making sure it is never repeated.”
“A total of eight officers were found to have not performed their duty in accordance with policies or procedures to varying degrees of seriousness.”
Blanch confirmed that internal disciplinary action had been taken against the officers, but said none of them had been sacked.
He said said 11 of the 18 recommendations made by the internal investigation had already been implemented, while seven were under way.
They include the creation of a data platform to flag firearms licence holders, the creation of a team dedicated to assessing domestic violence cases across the state and the appointment of a 24/7 family violence coordinator in the state operations command centre and a 24/7 firearms law expert.
“When someone walks into a police station and reports domestic violence, we will immediately remove firearms,” Blanch said.
Mark Bombara, who was licensed to own guns, shot dead his wife’s best friend, Jennifer Petelczyc and her teenage daughter Gretl, in their home last May before turning the gun on himself.
He was looking for his wife and daughter at the time.
Ariel Bombara, who has been very vocal about the police failings, also fronted the media to comment on the investigation, saying that if her father had managed to find and kill her and her mother, the review may never have happened.
”My mother and I made it clear that our lives were at risk – we were repeatedly ignored, repeatedly failed,” she said.
“I can have empathy for human being making mistakes. But that is a lot of human beings making a lot of mistakes.”
She also said she was grateful for the investigation and the history that would be made with the recommendations being implemented.
