From AAP:

Five youths ‘planned racist shooting’

Five youths were overheard saying they planned to “shoot niggers in the park” shortly before two Aboriginal teenagers were shot with an air rifle, a central Queensland court has been told.

Hayden John Nitz, Shane Matthew McPherson, Troy Keith Zornig, Scott Henry Warwick-Day, and Timothy John Perry, all aged 17, appeared in the Rockhampton Magistrates Court on Tuesday for a committal hearing into charges including grievous bodily harm and unlawful wounding.

Leah Kate Elliot, also 17, said she overheard the boys say they planned “to go shoot niggers in the park” when she was with the group of teenagers as they returned from a trip to the beach on Australia Day this year.

Miss Elliot alleged the boys then retrieved an air rifle from Perry’s car boot.

“We all got into Tim (Perry’s) car,” she told the court.

“We drove around for a bit then went to south side, that’s when we went to the park.

“Tim had the gun pointed out the window towards the Aborigines and he shot.

“They were all just sitting on the grass in the park when Tim pulled the trigger but I didn’t see anyone get hurt.”

After failing to find people in other Rockhampton parks, the group then drove to North Rockhampton, where Nitz allegedly shot a girl in Alexandra Street before shooting a boy in Wilmington Street.

Miss Elliot said Nitz laughed after he shot the young girl but Perry said they should stop.

Police Child Protection and Investigation Unit officer Marya Groen-int-woud said one of the wounded Aboriginal teens had to undergo surgery to have a slug pellet removed.

“It could have been way more serious,” Ms Groen-int-woud said.

The two-day committal trial continues on Wednesday.