Floreat inquest to examine care of killer Mark Bombara before murders

The coronial inquest into the Floreat double murder opens today, and the coroner's primary focus is the medical care Mark Bombara received in the lead-up to the shooting. An expert neurological report on Bombara was requested, but no detail has been released on his medical history or why the report was ordered. A pre-inquest hearing in June first flagged that the medical care would sit at the centre of proceedings.

Bombara, 63, shot Jennifer Petelczyc, 59, and her daughter Gretl, 18, inside their Berkeley Crescent home in May 2024 while searching for his estranged wife and his daughter. Menacing phone calls from Bombara triggered a massive police response, but when officers reached the house, he and Jennifer were already dead. Gretl was rushed to Royal Perth Hospital and died a short time later.

Over five days, the inquest will also examine the actions of police officers, the state's gun laws and the role of family and domestic violence. Ariel Bombara had spent weeks trying to warn police that her father had a history of domestic violence and was a real and imminent threat. She and her mother had fled the family home, fearing for their lives, and told officers one of Bombara's 13 guns was missing. A WA Police investigation later found eight officers did not perform their duty and took internal disciplinary action against them. No officer was sacked.

WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch said in January 2025 that officers had failed to correctly assess the risk, so powers available under the Restraining Orders Act and Firearms Act were never used appropriately. Ariel Bombara's response was scathing: she said the family had told police he was going to murder them, and described the case as a perfect storm of apathy and compassion fatigue among officers, shoddy systems, outdated policies and insufficient training. The police report recommended a family violence coordinator always be present at the state Operations Command centre so officers can seek expert advice.

Less than a week after the murders, WA Parliament vowed to change the state's gun laws. The reforms took effect in March 2025, are now the toughest in the nation, and have cut the number of licensed guns in the state by a quarter. Recreational licences no longer exist, collectors' licences are far stricter, owners are capped at 10 guns and must pass a mental health check every five years. Disqualification orders now let firearms be removed immediately once a domestic or family violence report is made, stripping away officer discretion over whether a risk threshold has been met.

The Nationals and the WA Firearms Community Alliance pushed back, calling the changes an overreach that hit law-abiding gun owners while missing illegal guns, and a record-breaking 2024 ePetition against the reforms drew more than 31,000 signatures. The deaths of Jennifer and Gretl Petelczyc became a turning point for the state's response to domestic and family violence, yet Australian Femicide Watch counts 60 women and 28 children killed by violence across Australia so far this year. Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows WA Police are responding to a family and domestic violence incident every 20 minutes.