The Queen Street Massacre

• A murder-suicide that occurred on December 8, 1987 at the Australia Post
• Frank Vitkovic had been a promising tennis player, although his career was cut short by a leg injury.

• This contributed to his becoming withdrawn and solitary late in his life, when he became obsessed with guns.
• The former law student, wanted to murder a former school friend, Con Margellis, who worked in the building, and then to take out as many others as possible before ending his own life.
• Earlier that day he had travelled to the University of Melbourne with the same murderous intent, but his intended target was not on-campus, thus he proceeded to Queen Street.

• At around 4:00pm, 22-year old Frank Vitkovic walked into the building and started shooting offices in Queen Street.
• On entering the fifth floor office where the intended victim worked Vitkovic pulled his carbine from the bag and began firing at fleeing workers.
• Vitkovic then moved from floor to floor, where he walked through office areas picking his targets randomly, shooting some workers at close range execution style as they cowered under their desks, as well as murdering those in the elevators.
• The attack resulted in 8 fatalities and 5 injuries

• The friend chosen as the original target escaped unharmed.
• The massacre ended on the 11th floor, in the finance department, when the gun was wrestled from Vitkovic
• Vitkovic then took his own life, by breaking a window and jumping to his death.

The Queen Street massacre was a murder-suicide that occurred on December 8, 1987 at the Australia Post offices in Melbourne, Australia. The attack resulted in 8 fatalities and 5 injuries.

22 year old Frank Vitkovic had studied law at Melbourne University but dropped out before graduating. He was a promising tennis player, although his career was cut short by a leg injury. This contributed to his becoming withdrawn and solitary late in his life, when he became obsessed with guns.

On the day of the massacre, Vitkovic wanted to murder a former school friend, Con Margellis, who worked in the building, and then to take out as many others as possible before ending his own life. Earlier that day he had travelled to the University of Melbourne with the same murderous intent, but his intended target was not on-campus, thus he proceeded to Queen Street.

At around 4:00pm, Vitkovic walked into the building in Melbourne's Queen Street holding a brown paper bag and carrying a sawn-off M1 carbine.

On entering the fifth floor office where the intended victim worked, Vitkovic pulled his carbine from the bag and began firing at fleeing workers, killing a young woman office worker. The friend chosen as the original target escaped unharmed. Vitkovic then moved from floor to floor, where he walked through office areas picking his targets randomly, shooting some workers at close range execution style as they cowered under their desks, as well as murdering those in the elevators.

The massacre ended on the 11th floor, in the finance department, when the gun was wrestled from Vitkovic by office worker Frank Carmody, and hidden in a refrigerator by another worker. Vitkovic then took his own life, despite valiant attempts from the postal workers to save him, by breaking a window and diving to his death.

This was witnessed by numerous onlookers, from all floors of the Australia Post building, since the building opposite was mirrored glass, as well as by others from the viewpoints of the opposite buildings, and others outside the building. Carmody was recommended for a bravery award after his actions in disarming the killer.