SYDNEY: Police in Australia are searching for a man who allegedly shot one man and stabbed another, leaving both with life-threatening injuries.
The police service in the state of Queensland said that a 30-year-old man fled the scene after allegedly shooting one neighbour and stabbing another during a dispute in the early hours of Monday morning, Xinhua news agency reported.
Police said that emergency services responded to a disturbance at an address in Surfers Paradise -- 70 km southeast of Brisbane on Queensland's Gold Coast -- just before 2 a.m. local time.
A 21-year-old man was found at the scene with a gunshot wound to his stomach and stab wounds to his back, and a 44-year-old male was found with stab wounds to his head, neck and leg.
Both men were treated at the scene for life-threatening injuries before being taken to a nearby hospital in a critical but stable condition.
Police located a firearm at the scene and have launched a search for the 30-year-old male who fled the address before the officers arrived.
Queensland Police Service Acting Chief Superintendent Peter Miles told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio that police have a "fair idea" of who they are looking for.
"The appeal is for that gentleman to give himself up. This isn't going away, this is attempted murder, " he said. "We just need you to come in and give yourself up and we'll deal with you from there on in."
He said that the incident occurred in a common area after the 44-year-old and 21-year-old males intervened in a disturbance in a neighbouring unit.