- Father shot while trying to protect his daughter
- She believes a man was following her home at midnight.
A father is in a coma after being shot by a man he believed was following his daughter late at night.
Blessing Valla, 21, called her father about 12.25am on Monday and told him she believed an unknown man in a white van was following her car in Melbourne’s south-east, police said.
Victor Valla, 58, told his daughter to return home to Cranbourne East, where he was waiting for her at the front.
When he arrived at the house five minutes later, the truck also stopped.
Mr Valla approached the car and became involved in an altercation with the driver.
The man got out of the vehicle and pushed Mr Valla before pulling out a handgun and shooting him in the abdomen.
He then fled the scene as neighbours rushed to Mr Valla’s aid.
Blessing stayed by her father’s side until he was rushed to the hospital, where he remains in critical but stable condition.
Victor Valla, 58, was reportedly trying to protect his daughter when he was shot in the abdomen.
Blessing Valla, 21, was driving home at midnight when she noticed a car following her.
“She kept saying, ‘Dad, Dad, don’t go.’ My daughter was left holding her father’s hand,” Valla’s ex-wife, Cecilia, told reporters.
“She told me, ‘Dad almost lost his life because of me.’ It’s crazy, it was a young boy who had the gun.”
Mr Valla is known to have lost a kidney and will undergo surgery on Tuesday.
Police are treating the incident as a random attack.
No connection has been established between Mr Valla or his daughter and the gunman, who remains at large.
“When a man goes out to protect his daughter, to be shot in the street is distressing,” Acting Detective Superintendent Mick Daly told reporters on Monday.
The shooting was captured on CCTV before the gunmen fled the scene in the white van.
‘We don’t know why she was attacked and why the attacker shot the father.
“It is very worrying. Firearms in the community are a concern.”
Detectives are stepping up their investigation in the area and spent Monday afternoon reviewing CCTV and speaking to locals.
Police would also like to speak to anyone in the area who may have CCTV or dashcam footage.