Police attend the scene of a brawl in Barkly Street, Portland, last night.
A MAN was shot and a street brawl broke out in a night of violence in Portland last night.
A Portland hospital spokesman said a 20-year-old man was brought to the emergency department between 5pm and 5.30pm yesterday with a gunshot wound to his abdomen.
The spokesman said the man was in a critical condition last night and medical staff were working to stabilise his condition. The man was brought to the hospital by two others.
Later, a brawl broke out in Barkly Street, but police declined to speculate whether there was a link between the shooting and the brawl. It is believed the brawl was over a debt.
Sergeant Martin Flannery, of Portland police, said the brawl involved at least six people, some of whom were armed with baseball bats.
Sergeant Flannery said the brawl took place on the road and was between occupants of a Barkly Street house and visitors about 6.40pm. He said no one appeared to have been injured in the fight and the participants had left the scene by the time police arrived.
No one had filed a complaint with police about the fight and the occupants of the Barkly Street house who were involved in the fight were not co-operating with police, he said.
Sergeant Flannery said police had called at the house on previous occasions.
A witness who lives near where the fight occurred said it had mainly involved yelling and threats by the belligerents.
The witness said the fight started when two teenagers armed with baseball bats arrived outside the Barkly Street house and demanded a debt be paid.
He said about four males came out of the house, some of whom were armed with knives, and the melee continued for about 20 minutes before the visitors sped away in their car.
The witness said police later took away one person from inside the house in a divisional van.
He said there had been another incident at the Barkly Street house the previous night when vehicles were damaged. He believed that had also been over a debt.
