A man jumped in his car and drove himself to safety after being shot in the head while on his way buy cigarettes in Melbourne.
The 25-year-old man told police he was "jumped" by two men when he left a female friend's home in Melbourne to walk to a petrol station for the cigarettes.
The victim had been visiting the friend in St Albans before he was shot at about 9.30pm yesterday, armed crime Detective Senior Constable Andrew Tait told reporters today.
Blood stains from the incident covered the footpath outside the unit today.
"During a scuffle that broke out, a shot was fired and he fell to the ground and received a single gunshot to the back of the head," Det Snr Const Tait said.
"He is extremely lucky the bullet has gone in just behind the left ear. The fragment is still there."
The man ran to his car and drove off, despite his wound.
While driving to Werribee Hospital, near his Hoppers Crossing home, the man rang a relative who picked him up and drove him the rest of the way, Det Snr Const Tait said.
"He is a very lucky man and it is beyond belief that he drove himself to hospital," he said.
The friend, a young mother, said she knew the victim from school days but said she did not know he had been shot.
"I don't know anything about what happened, I don't know, was he shot?" she asked.
"If he was shot, it is not unusual for this area."
Det Snr Const Tait said the victim did not have a criminal record and had told police he did not know his attackers.
"We have no indication of any motive, we don't have a description because the victim was attacked from behind and he has not been able to say much," he said.
"We are hoping to speak to him (again). We have spoken to the woman and investigations are continuing.
"We are hoping there are witnesses that have heard or seen something at around 9.30pm in the area."
The victim was taken to Royal Melbourne Hospital but had since been discharged, a hospital spokesman said.
Police believe the two offenders fled on foot south down Kings Road towards Gillespie Road.
Just 24 hours earlier there had been another shooting in the area, with Victorian police and commuters witnessing a gunman shoot himself dead moments after shooting his estranged partner in the face.
The 65-year-old Keilor Downs man shot his former partner, a 49-year-old Sydenham woman, after she walked to her car at Watergardens railway station.
She is recovering and is in a stable condition.
