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Malcolm George Baker (13 August 1947 – 22 June 2024) was an Australian spree killer from Terrigal, New South Wales, who died while serving six sentences of life imprisonment for the shooting massacre of seven people, including an unborn child, in Terrigal, Bateau Bay and Wyong on the evening of 27 October 1992, an event known as the Central Coast massacre.

Shootings

The shootings started at 9:12 p.m. at the Terrigal apartment of his ex-girlfriend Kerry Gannon and her younger sister Lisa Gannon. Baker used his shotgun to smash the front window. Twenty-two-year-old Christopher Gall, a friend of the sisters, was the first person shot, suffering a gunshot wound to the face. Baker then entered the house and shot Kerry Gannon dead. Moving through the house he shot Lisa dead, who was eight months pregnant; later efforts to save her unborn baby failed. Their father, Thomas Gannon, 43, who had been visiting for a few days, was found dead in the street.

Baker then drove north to the coastal suburb of Bateau Bay, where he arrived about ten minutes later, at the home of his 27-year-old son David. Baker shot his son through the back of his head. His body was discovered in the back yard of the home he shared with his ex girlfriend and her baby.

Baker then went to the home of Ross Smith, 35, and Leslie Read, 25, in Wyong, 15 kilometres north of Bateau Bay. Arriving there shortly before 10 p.m., he shot and critically injured Read, then finding Smith in the bathtub shot and killed him instantly. Read died two hours later in hospital. Smith and Baker had had a confrontation about two years prior, over a business deal gone sour.

At 11.00 p.m., Baker walked into Toukley police station, surrendered, and handed over a Sawn-off Remington 12-gauge double-barrelled shotgun. He was charged with six counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.

Incarceration and death

Baker was one of the first six inmates of Goulburn Gaol's High Risk Management Unit upon its creation in 2001.

Baker died on 22 June 2024, at the age of 76.

References

1. "SENTENCING FOR "LIFE" IN NEW SOUTH WALES" (PDF). John Anderson. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 21 April 2009.
2. "SHOTGUN RAMPAGE KILLS 6 IN AUSTRALIA". San Jose Mercury News (CA). 28 October 1992. Retrieved 21 April 2009.
3. Hogan, Nicole (25 October 2017). "The Central Coast massacre: 25 years on". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
4. "True Crime Writing Part 1 - Hunter Writers Centre". hunterwriterscentre.org. Archived from the original on 27 October 2019.
5. "Fed: First six inmates of the new Goulburn high risk jail". AAP. 1 June 2001. Retrieved 21 April 2009.
6. "Malcolm George Baker: Mass murderer who killed his ex and six others in NSW Central Coast massacre dies behind bars". Daily Mail. 23 June 2024. Retrieved 23 June 2024.

• 1947 births
• 2024 deaths
• 1992 murders in Australia
• 20th-century Australian criminals
• Australian mass murderers
• Australian murderers of children
• Australian people convicted of murder
• Australian prisoners sentenced to multiple life sentences
• Criminals from New South Wales
• People convicted of murder by New South Wales
• People from Terrigal
• Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by New South Wales
• Prisoners who died in New South Wales detention