General News
13 April, 2026
Man charged after weekend car chase
A Westbrook man will face court after a wild Easter weekend of activity which saw Allora and Clifton police join with other officers from across the Darling Downs as they tracked a series of stolen cars across three days.
The armed robbery and stolen vehicle incidents began on Saturday.
At about 3.20pm police were called to Princess Street in the Toowoomba suburb of Newtown, following reports that a man had approached a stationary silver RAV4 and threatened the male driver and female passenger with a firearm.
The driver and passenger exited the vehicle, and the unknown man fled in the RAV4.
It was tracked by police, including Polair, towards Allora.
At about 5.15pm, the man stopped the RAV4 and approached a silver Subaru Forester on the New England Highway at Spring Creek.
The man allegedly fired a single shot into the air and demanded the driver give him the Subaru before fleeing in the vehicle.
Then, at about 5.30pm, the man stopped the Subaru at Ryans Road at Mount Marshall and threatened the driver of a SsangYong Musso with the firearm, demanding the car.
The man fled in the grey Musso dual cab utility.
The vehicle was later seen heading west on the Warrego Highway near Oakey at 7.46pm.
By that stage, police had issued a warning for members of the public not to approach the vehicle or the man.
Attention later turned to the western Downs
On Sunday at about 11.40pm, a man attended a residence on Gormley Street at Chinchilla where he was allegedly armed with a weapon and demanded car keys from the residents.
The occupants complied, and the man fled the scene in a silver 2019 Toyota Landcruiser dual cab.
While leaving the property, the man reportedly drove through a fence before heading towards the main township.
At that stage police were led to believe that the offender was linked to the three stolen vehicle incidents on the Darling Downs on Saturday as the stolen SsangYong Musso was located nearby.
The Toyota Landcruiser dual cab taken from Chinchilla was seen in Toowoomba at about 10am on Monday.
Police on the ground and in Polair started tracking the vehicle.
Specialist police arrested a man on Monday afternoon in relation to four stolen vehicles.
The man was arrested outside a café in Herries Street between Curzon and Cohoe Streets in East Toowoomba at 12.50pm and the Toyota Landcruiser and firearm were recovered.
On Tuesday morning a 39-years-old Westbrook man was charged with almost 20 offences following the serious alleged incidents involving multiple stolen vehicles across the Darling Downs and South West District.
He has been charged with four counts of robbery with violence, four counts of unlawful use of a motor vehicle, one count each of dangerous conduct with a weapon, attempted robbery, and unlawful possession of weapons.
The man was expected to appear in the Toowoomba Magistrates Court on Tuesday afternoon
Investigations into the series of incidents are continuing and police say they expect that further charges will be laid.
