Family members laid flowers for Mr Brand at the clubhouse on Thursday and one website condolence from "Jamie" of the Gold Coast described him as "a true stand-up guy, a much-loved friend and brother".Bandido Ross Brand died in hospital on Thursday after being gunned down while leaving the bikie gang's Geelong clubhouse on Wednesday night with three other men.
A second man was undergoing surgery on Thursday to remove shotgun pellets in his buttocks, thigh and arms while the other two escaped injury and later gave their accounts of the ambush to police.A volley of shots was fired from a white twin-cab ute parked outside the clubhouse as the men left it just after 6pm (AEDT), near the corner of Bayldon Court and Leather Street in an industrial area of the Geelong suburb of Breakwater.Bandidos throughout Australia and around the world have sent condolences to the Geelong chapter of the global gang.Among the messages on the gang's website are several stating "God forgives, Bandidos don't."Police said they were keeping an open mind on the motive for the shooting, although it was well known the Bandidos had been in a bloody feud with rival Geelong gang the Rebels for at least two years.Detective Inspector Steve Clark said police were not assuming it was carried out by a rival gang."It's too early at this stage to determine whether the shooting was linked to any outlaw motorcycle groups," Det Insp Clark told reporters."Certainly we don't have a closed mind and have views that the shooting was necessarily done by another outlaw motorcycle gang."We need to review all the evidence we have got and see where it takes us."He said Mr Brand appeared to the victim of a "targeted shooting".Det Insp Clark said Mr Brand, 51, was a "fully-patched" member of the Bandidos and had prior convictions for violence, firearms and weapons offences.His Torquay home had been shot at earlier this year.Det Insp Clark said police were hopeful gang members would help the investigation and not hide behind a wall of silence."We're pleased with the cooperation so far and have no reason to suspect that people won't talk to us," he said.
Security cameras at the club may have captured the shooting but police are yet to view the CCTV footage.The shooting is the second on the Bandidos' clubhouse in the past 18 months and bullet holes from the previous attack are still visible in its roller door.In April, the Rebels' Geelong headquarters was firebombed and, in June, two gunmen shot four Rebels gang members at a nightclub in Adelaide.
he shooting coincides with the announcement of a new Victorian police taskforce targeting street shootings.