Police said they had little solid information and appealed for help to find the killer or killers. Last night they set up an information caravan at the shooting scene. The victims were found by police who had been called to investigate reports of shots in Walsh Street. An immediate search of nearby schools, drains and the Botanic Gardens failed to give police any clues. The Minister for Police and Emergency Services, Mr Crabb, said he was appalled. “It is particularly cold-blooded and despicable and deserves the contempt of the entire community. Indeed, the offenders had better know that they are going to be caught." He said the full resources of the Victoria Police would be used to catch the offenders. Constables Damian Eyre and Steven Tynan. The Premier, Mr Cain, offered the Government’s sympathy to the relatives of the dead men. ''It makes us realise again the hard job that police have to do and how they are always at risk in any situation that they attend as our protectors. I think the whole community is outraged."

The police deputy commissioner for crime, Mr John Frame, said he was sickened by the shooting and said it called into question society's approach to violence. He said the officers paid the ultimate sacrifice for their dedication and devotion to duty. "There might be 9500 of us, but it is still very much a rather large family and ifs not easy when you lose a couple of those family members." There have been 27 police officers killed on duty since the Victorian force was established in 1853. Yesterday's shooting was the first multiple murder of police since the Kelly gang shot three constables dead at Stringybark Creek in 1878. A postmortem showed that both men were shot with a shotgun. Constable Tynan was shot in the head and was found lying next to the Commodore. Constable Eyre was shot in the back and his service revolver, which is missing, was used to shoot him in the head and chest. Both were shot from side-on and at close range. Police check a storm water drain on the banks of the Yarra River near the scene of the shooting. Credit:John Woudstra The shotgun blast threw Constable Eyre, who was standing outside the car, across the front seat. Investigators said it appeared that the men had been caught by surprise; there were no signs that they had put up a struggle. Both died before they could be taken to hospital.

Investigators said they were working on several theories about the motive for the shootings. Among the theories was the possibility that the officers were lured to their deaths as revenge for the fatal shooting by police of a convicted bank robber, Glen Jensen, at Narre Warren on Tuesday. Mr Frame said police had not ruled out the possibility that the officers disturbed people attempting to steal a car, although no such information was given to police headquarters over their radio. Police said it was possible that they came across thieves trying to steal a car for use in a robbery. The Commodore, belonging to a Walsh Street man, was not far from his house. Several cars near the murder scene had quarter-windows broken overnight in apparent theft attempts. The police assistant commissioner for crime, Mr Vaughan Werner, said it was "comparatively rare that we would find a car thief armed with a shotgun, but it would depend what they were stealing the car for". Forensics check for fingerprints after the shootings. Credit:John Woudstra

Mr Frame said the original call for police to attend the scene came from a Walsh Street resident. Police have spoken to the caller and eliminated the possibility that the killers called police as part of an ambush. It is believed that detectives from the armed robbery, homicide and major crime squads made several raids yesterday. They said they were treating the killings as a normal homicide investigation and they had not set up a taskforce. Mr Werner said police had received a great deal of information from the public, which still had to be collated and examined. Witnesses told police that two men were seen jumping over a fence outside a nearby block of flats, and that a small grey sedan sped away from nearby Airlie Street towards Punt Road just after the shots were heard. Police have not discounted other information that men were seen running towards Domain Road. Mr Frame said the only description police had was that one man wore a black jumper with a white stripe. Witnesses told police they heard up to six shots from the street about 4.50 am. Some said they heard four shots, followed by silence, then another two shots apparently farther sway.

Me Frame rejected suggestions that police were putting officers on to the street when they were too young. Constable Tynan had been in the force for three years and Constable Eyre for less than one. "It certainly wasn't that we had two very inexperienced members because three years' experience in mainly inner-suburban police stations is relatively experienced." Loading He said the officers were not wearing flak jackets and, given their injuries, would not have been saved by them. "It was simply a suspect vehicle, a fairly routine call." Mr Frame said he would hate to see the day Victorian police had to attend all calls with their guns drawn. Police are advised to wear firearms when they go out on the streets on duty, but Mr Frame said they had to make their own decisions. Constable Steven Tyan, 22, joined the police force in September 1985. He graduated from the Police Academy the following January and spent his first year at Cheltenham. He had been stationed since January at Prahran, where he earned a reputation for hard work.

Sergeant George Cooney, the officer-in-charge at Prahran said Constable Tynan had been particularly affected by his job when he was involved in the shooting of two men who allegedly tried to rob a South Yarra TAB. Constable Tynan returned to night shift only on Sunday. He was keen to show his younger colleague how crime was fought. When Probationary Constable Damian Eyre, 20, graduated from the Police Academy on 29 April it was the realisation of a life-long ambition. He came from a police family: his father, Frank, had been an officer between 1963 and 1977 and is a member of the force reserve at Shepparton. His brother is a detective based at Melton. His ambition to join the force was partly inspired by the respect his family had earned as police officers. He failed his first admission test to join the force, but doggedly pursued his goal.