Notorious bikie shot dead in his BMW in execution-style killing on the Gold Coast was 'watching his back for months' after a narrow escape from another drive-by attack in July - as his TWO girlfriends pay tribute
Notorious bikie Shane Bowden was killed in an execution-style shooting on the Gold Coast in the early hours of Monday morning
Murdered bikie Shane Bowden had been 'looking over his shoulder' for months before he was shot dead in an execution-style shooting on the Gold Coast.
The 48-year-old was gunned down in a hail of bullets inside his BMW moments after pulling into the driveway of a home on Cox Road in Pimpama, about 12am on Monday.
Bowden is believed to have been shot dead by members of the Mongols OMCG, the gang he was a senior member of until recently patching over to the Finks.
Trudi McPhee, Bowden's on-again-off-again girlfriend and mother to one of his two sons, told Daily Mail Australia that the heavily-tattooed bikie had been wary of a potential attack ever since he was shot in Melbourne on July 1.
'He believed people had been watching him ever since he got shot in Melbourne,' Ms McPhee said.
'He got shot and then he got COVID-19, and then he told me that he was heading up to Queensland because he thought he would be at peace up there, but a few weeks ago he told me he thought he was being followed.'
Trudi McPhee , Bowden's on-again-off-again girlfriend and mother to one of his two sons, told Daily Mail Australia the heavily-tattooed bikie had been wary of a potential attack in recent months. Another of Bowden's ex-girlfriends Janet Campbell also paid tribute to him and said she 'couldn't believe' he had been killed
Bowden, 48, was gunned down in a hail of bullets inside his BMW moments after pulling into the driveway of a home on Cox Road at Pimpama, on the Gold Coast, about 12am on Monday
Another of Bowden's partners and two young children were just metres away inside the Gold Coast home when he was killed on Monday.
Two burnt-out vehicles were found nearby - one at Beenleigh and one at Ormeau - and a manhunt has been launched for two men believed to be behind the shooting.
Queensland Police Detective Superintendent Brendan Smith said it appeared that Bowden had been ambushed.
'At this point we believe the victim came home from the gym and has driven into his driveway, the assailants have run in and shot him multiple times and consequently now he is deceased,' he said.
'He's basically driven into his driveway, hasn't even gotten out of his car and has been executed.'
Bowden had been shot in the leg during the drive-by attack in Melbourne in July and was awaiting more surgery to aid in his recovery.
Ms McPhee believes those responsible for that attack are the same 'cowards' who carried out Monday's early hour assassination.
She also warned that Bowden's killing could spark an all-out bikie war on the streets of the Gold Coast.
'As I sit here today I still don't think it's real. I don't think anyone deserves to die like this,' Ms McPhee said.
Bowden had recently rejoined the Finks OMCG after years as a senior member of the Mongols OMCG. Queensland Police believe the shooter may have had links to the Mongols
A heavily-tattooed talks on the phone at the scene where Bowden was shot dead hours earlier
Forensic police dusted for fingerprints on Bowden's black BMW sedan and collected evidence in paper bags for further examination
'Nobody deserves to die in this manner but, you live by the sword, you die by the sword,' police detective superintendent Brendan Smith said on Monday (Pictured are officers outside the Cox Road home)
'It's pretty cowardly. If he had a gun, which he didn't because he couldn't or he'd do five years, he would've shot back.
'Of course the cowards knew they couldn't go up and confront him face-to-face as he was a handy boxer and they wouldn't have stood a chance.
'All I know is this war is going to get bigger and women and their children need to be careful, because in this war they don't care who gets hurt.'
One source told The Courier Mail to 'expect more bodies on the street'.
Detective Superintendent Smith said it was likely the targeted shooting was carried out by members within Bowden's former club.
'It obviously makes things harder when these types of gangs are involved because they have their own code of silence,' Det Supt Smith said.
'It's important that people understand that these gangs are criminals… that survive on retribution, violence and threats and if anyone thinks anything otherwise they're an idiot.
'Nobody deserves to die in this manner but, you live by the sword, you die by the sword.'
Ms McPhee revealed she first met Bowden in the 1990s when he was an elite cyclist and Olympic hopeful.
She was a talented swimmer and they struck up a brief romance, before going their separate ways.
After suffering a career-ending injury, Bowden became a gym junkie and struck up a friendship with members of the Finks OMCG.
Ms McPhee and Sam Bowden, hers and Shane's son, paid tribute to their loved on on Instagram
The 48-year-old's body was discovered in a car on Cox Road at about 12.10am on Monday
Bowden was ambushed in a Melbourne driveway on July 1, just two weeks after making a glitzy exit from Loddon Prison prison after a five-year stint for a violent home invasion
He and Ms McPhee were not in contact again until after the infamous Ballroom Blitz, a wild bikie brawl on the Gold Coast that saw Christopher Wayne Hudson shot at a kickboxing event, in 2006.
'I reconnected with him when he got in trouble for the Ballroom Blitz and Sam (their son) was born, but then we separated again,' she said.
'But we were planning to get back together. We would send each other love letters in prison and told each other that we were soul mates.
'Both of his sons were trying to establish a relationship with him again, because he'd been gone for so long.
'The day before he got out he wrote emailed me and said he was over the moon that he was getting out and promised he was never going to go back inside.'
Bowden had been involved with a number of women over the years, among them his glamorous ex-girlfriend Janet 'Aysen Unlu' Campbell.
A personal trainer who claims to have worked with Hollywood celebrities like Britney Spears, Kim Kardashian, and Beyonce, Campbell joined Bowden for a violent home invasion at South Yarra in 2015.
The mother-of-two narrowly escaped jail while and the then-Mongols sergeant-at-arms was handed a five-year sentence.
In the wake of his death on Monday, Campbell said she could not believe the news.
'My deepest sympathies go out to Shane's children and family,' Ms Campbell said.
'May God give him the peace that he seek.
'My thoughts, prayers and well-wishes during this dark time in there life. RIP Shane Bowden.'
Bowden's former partner Janet 'Aysen Unlu' Campbell (pictured with Kim Kardashian) has been left heartbroken by his death
Bowden and Campbell were convicted over an aggravated assault and robbery after a home invasion they carried out in South Yarra in 2015
Forensic police gather evidence inside the Gold Coast home where Bowden was found dead
Evidence tags are seen on the ground of the scene of the execution-style shooting
Bowden had only been released from prison in June after serving his sentence inside the high security Loddon Prison, in Victoria's south-west.
Upon his release he was ferried back to Melbourne by the Mongols OMCG in a white limousine, complete with a full escort from his fellow bikies.
But within a matter of weeks his relationship with the Mongols had soured and senior members booted him from the club - leading him to rejoin the Finks.
He was diagnosed with coronavirus while in hospital in Melbourne awaiting surgery for the gunshot wounds, but was cleared by Victorian authorities on August 21.
On August 22 he tested positive to a second test but was not infectious.
Bowden, who was once part of the Finks' 'terror team', made headlines again after providing false information on his border declaration while fleeing to Queensland.
He briefly sparked fears of a coronavirus outbreak after breaching his quarantine by travelling from Victoria and was fined $750 for the breach.