Floreat shooting: Mark Bombara’s phone call with daughter a key clue in shocking double murders

The daughter of the gunman who shot and killed a mother and daughter inside their Perth home, was on the phone to her father in the seconds before he pulled the trigger, chillingly hearing someone scream “put the gun down”.

Jennifer and Gretl Petelczyc were murdered in their own home by Mark Bombara after he turned up at the Floreat residence on Friday afternoon looking for his ex-wife.

He then turned the gun on himself.

It is understood Bombara’s ex-wife was good friends with Jennifer and had been staying with the Petelczyc family since leaving her husband.

The Nightly has since learnt that one of Bombara’s daughters was on the phone with him when he gunned down Jennifer and Gretl.

The daughter is understood to have heard someone say, “put the gun down”, and then several gunshots before the call with her 63-year-old dad went dead.

She immediately phoned police and told them what she had heard.

The Nightly understands that at least one other phone call was made to police that Friday afternoon, leading them to believe a man was armed with a gun at the home in the heart of Perth’s affluent western suburbs.

Officers arrived on the scene so quickly that when they got there, they heard at least one gunshot, believed to have been the shot Bombara inflicted on himself after murdering Jennifer and Gretl.

The phone calls made to the police — plus the phone conversation Bombara had with his daughter — are sure to form crucial pieces of evidence for homicide investigators piecing together the circumstances of the tragic double-murder suicide. It is understood Bombara, who legally owned 13 firearms, cable-tied at least one of the women.

The WA Government is in the process of toughening its gun laws with a $64 million buyback scheme underway and legislative changes on foot to restrict the number of firearms people can own. The killer was known to police but did not have a history of violence, authorities have said.

There has been widespread shock and revulsion at the killings.

“This is just unacceptable. It was an outrageous, horrible crime. This man, if you could call him that, is a gutless, evil coward,” said State Environment Minister Reece Whitby.

Tributes are continuing to pour in for 59-year-old Jennifer and Gretl, 18.

The UWA Water Polo Club said that the mother and daughter had been much-loved members for many years.

“Jenny was a great supporter of the club and her daughter Gretl,” the club said in a statement on Monday.

“The UWA Water Polo Club is richer for having had the Petelczycs as part of our family, but poorer that they are no longer with us.”

The City Beach Basketball Club also paid their condolences to Ms Peteczyc’s surviving daughter and Gretel’s elder sister Liesl.

“Jenny was a former secretary of our community club and will also be remembered as a caring, bubbly, kind, friendly person who was willing to help anyone in any way she could,” club president Paul West said.

A huge floral tribute continues to build at the Floreat home where the mother and daughter were killed.

Several handwritten cards have also been left at the scene, alongside numerous bunches of flowers.

“Dear Jenny, I don’t even know where to start,” one of the cards read. “I cannot thank you enough for all you have done for me and my family.”

1800RESPECT (1800 737 732)

Lifeline 13 11 14