A SECURITY guard who allegedly fired his gun during a confrontation with a group of young men at the former Larundel Mental Hospital has been charged.

Police swarmed the Polaris housing development in Bundoora after reports of a gunshot just after 2.30am on Good Friday.

Father-of-three Steve Ferraro, who lives on the site, said he heard a confrontation between a group of men and a security guard escalate rapidly.

“I woke up to screaming. They were saying ‘Pull the trigger, I dare you to’,” he said.

Mr Ferraro said after the gunshot he feared for the lives of his children.

“My kids are in their rooms in the front of the house — if someone’s firing a gun, the bullet could have entered my house,” he said.

media_camera There are round-the-clock security patrols at the site. Picture: Josie Hayden

Mr Ferraro described pulling his four-year-old daughter away from the windows to protect her.

He praised the police, who he said rushed to the scene in force within minutes.

Police arrested and charged a 34-year-old Reservoir man with conduct endangering life, relating to the alleged discharge of a weapon, believed to be a semiautomatic pistol. He was also charged with improper storage of ammunition.

A 28-year-old St Albans man, 23-year-old Epping man, 23-year-old Doreen man, 21-year-old Werribee man, 27-year-old Craigieburn man and a 21-year-old Fawkner man are all expected to be charged on summons with trespass.

The security guard was bailed to appear before a Heidelberg magistrate in July.

He is understood to have been a contractor working on the site.

The incident follows a string of others at the $500m housing development, which has been plagued by illegal ghost hunters fascinated by the site’s history.

The developer employs around-the-clock patrols of the sprawling site to prevent and deter trespassers.

Hoon drivers terrorised families before police and the council stepped in to install bollards and other measures.

Mr Ferraro said he was shaken by the incident, after “things had quietened down” over the past 12 months.