Western Australia Police have made a series of damning admissions at a coronial inquest into the deaths of Jennifer Petelczyc, 59, and her 18-year-old daughter Gretel, who were shot dead at their Floreat home on 24 May 2024 by Mark Bombara, a 63-year-old man whose firearms licence should have been cancelled more than two decades earlier.
The five-day inquest, before State Coroner Sarah Linton, has laid bare a catalogue of institutional failures, from the unlawful renewal of Bombara's gun licence to critical delays in the police response as the attack unfolded in real time.
Licence Renewed Six Times Despite Bombara Being Ineligible
The inquest heard that Bombara became ineligible to hold a firearms licence following law changes in 2005, yet WA Police renewed that licence six times over two decades without ever subjecting it to a review. In his original application, Bombara had described himself as a "Glock enthusiast," writing that "nothing comes close to the satisfaction I have in the handling, cleaning, stripping down and where possible firing my Glock handgun." Under the rules in place at the time of subsequent renewals, he was required to submit a letter to retain the weapon. That requirement was never enforced.
WA Police Superintendent Mark Gilbert acknowledged the gravity of the oversight in testimony to the inquest. "It was never subject to a review and it really should have been," he said. "WA police force have failed to put a process in place." When pressed on whether police had learned from those failings, Gilbert declined to elaborate, saying it was appropriate to allow the coroner to complete her work.
State Coroner Linton was more direct. "As an organisation, there has been systemic failures," she said, adding that the accountability for those failures "shoots all the way to the top."
WA's firearms laws have since been significantly tightened and are now considered among the strictest in the country.
Triple-Zero Calls, Delayed Responses and a Priority Downgrade
The inquest also heard harrowing details about how the emergency response unfolded during the attack. Two triple-zero calls were made as Bombara carried out the killings: one from Gretel, who had her hands tied and was believed to be hiding inside the home while Bombara held a gun to her mother's head, and a second from Ariel Bombara, the killer's own daughter, who was with her mother Rowena at a separate location.
A recording of Ariel's call was played to a packed courtroom. In it, she can be heard urgently telling the operator that her father had arrived at the Petelczyc home with a gun, that she had heard Jennifer Petelczyc tell him to put the weapon down, and that she had then heard gunshots. Despite repeatedly telling the operator that someone had been shot, the incident was initially categorised as a priority 2, described at the time as an "immediate threat," rather than a priority 1, which was classified as an "imminent threat to life."
WA Police Commander Jason Longhorn, reviewing the call in hindsight, told the inquest he could not rule out that a radio failure had contributed to delays in dispatching officers to the scene. He also acknowledged that the incident should have been treated as a priority 1 from the outset.
"Yes, knowing the outcome of this incident, when I reviewed the call, the information that was provided, it was more than likely a priority 1," Longhorn said, while noting the complexity of the environment operators work in.
A delay of one minute and 20 seconds in answering one of the triple-zero calls was attributed by Police Commissioner Col Blanch to operators being occupied with other calls at the time. "My message to our community is if it's not life-threatening, don't ring triple-zero because you are taking the time away from someone who really does need a response quickly," Blanch told reporters outside court.
The Background: A Domestic Violence Situation Turned Deadly
It is understood Bombara was driven by rage over a recent separation from his wife Rowena. On the day of the killings, he went looking for Rowena and Ariel, who had fled the family's Mosman Park home and gone into hiding. It is believed he targeted the Floreat home of Jennifer Petelczyc, Rowena's closest friend, in the belief his wife and daughter were sheltering there. When he found they were not, he killed Jennifer and Gretel in what has been described as a proxy attack on the women he was actually seeking.
The inquest also heard that Bombara had suffered two strokes and that a 10-centimetre cyst had been discovered during a subsequent scan of his brain, raising questions about his mental state at the time of the attack.
Inquest to Continue Into Next Year
The proceedings, which have already stretched across five days, are now expected to extend into 2027, further delaying any formal findings or recommendations. For the families of Jennifer and Gretel Petelczyc, that means answers remain some time away.
The inquest continues.
