A one-year wedding anniversary camping trip turned into a nightmare for Lacey and Max Ditchfield after their campervan was shot at in the middle of the night.
The couple were asleep at a campsite north-east of Geraldton at Mullewa Waterfalls on Friday night, when around 9pm they woke up to their two dogs barking followed by a gunshot.
“We were going to go for the whole weekend, but we left Friday afternoon, and we went out to Mullewa. We weren’t overall to sure where we were going to go camping, but we’ve been camping at the Mullewa Waterfalls before, so we decided to go there,” Lacey said.
After finding a clearing along Carnarvon-Mullewa Road where her parents could park their caravan, the group sat around a camp fire and listened to music before heading to bed around 8:30pm.
“By 9pm, my partner and I woke up to a car idling, and we weren’t too sure what it was. And being around other campers, we kind of thought maybe it was just driving past,” she said.
“Then we heard some voices, and we were like, that’s a bit weird. And then the top of the camper kind of lit up all in light, and we thought – that’s even more weird.
“So we were going to have a look, but in the meantime of us deciding to have a look, there was a shot fired into the side of the caravan, and then a loud twang. Our dogs went ballistic, and we knew it was a gunshot, but we didn’t really know that it hit the camper, until my partner got out and had a look and saw the hole in the side.”
They found the shrapnel of the bullet on the floor of the campervan soon after and Lacey said she was in disbelief.
“I’m trying not to think about it. I’m also 19 weeks pregnant, so I don’t really want to worry too much. We’re all fine. The disbelief that it happened and why is more [on our minds] than it being so scary,” she said.
“But the gunshot was probably maybe three to four feet away from the bottom of my feet.
“I’ve camped all my life, and I’ve never really thought once of something like that happening. Like you hear about stories, but I honestly would never picture anyone doing something like that.”
Lacey said the car drove away after making the shot, and they immediately called the police.
“They ended up showing up, and they showed up in numbers, which made us feel very comfortable,” she said.
“But we did also hear a car leave on the highway. So after that, we kind of felt a bit of a relief that the car left so close to the incident in time that we felt like nothing else was going to happen.
“We feel like they weren’t targeting us. We just felt like we were in the wrong spot, at the wrong time, but it should have been something that shouldn’t have happened.”
Geraldton Detectives are investigating the incident but believe the incident is a one-off.
“Police believe this to be an isolated incident and are conducting inquiries into the circumstances. The community are reminded to remain vigilant and report any suspicious behaviour to police,” a WA Police spokesperson said.
While they wouldn’t camp at the same spot again, Lacey said she has not been deterred from camping.
“We have both said that we probably wouldn’t go out that way again. We are lovers of campers, so it’s never going to stop us camping, but we probably will be weary of hearing cars drive past and stuff like that,” she said.
