Western Australia: Nurses run for lives after kids pelt aged care home with rocks in Halls Creek

Four nurses have stopped working for a remote care home after they were attacked by a gang of youths who threw rocks at them.

Elderly patients at the Peoples Church Frail Aged Center in remote Halls Creek, in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, were terrified by Sunday night’s ordeal in which a staff member was shot in the head.

Nurse Casta McCullough, 32, was working at the center when she suddenly heard something that “sounded like gunshots.”

Shockingly, staff at the center are being thrown with rocks “all the time,” but this time it was worse than before, the nurse added.

“It sounded like gunshots, the residents were crying, all you could hear was smash, smash, smash,” she told the Kimberley Echo.

A window of the retirement home was smashed, as was the windshield of a van, and some of the criminals were believed to be only 12 years old.

The rock that went through the window also hit a staff member in the head.

The chaos started around 7pm when the group of youths approached nurses sitting outside and asked for water.

When the request was denied, the children began throwing rocks at the staff.

She said the gang called them “c****” and “a********” and threatened to go after the women.

The employees ran through the front door before the entrance was vandalized, Ms McCullough said, adding that: the gang knew there was no security in the facility.

the nurses called the police because they were afraid that the young people would break in.

The horrific ordeal lasted about five minutes, but the children returned later that evening and smashed the windows of a bus.

Mrs. McCullough and three other nurses, all of whom were employed through an agency, have since left Halls Creek, as the 32-year-old flies home to Airlie Beach and vows never to return.

She had only had four weeks of an eight-week contract and is now missing out on a $500 bonus – she says Sunday night was the “last straw” for her.

The remote Halls Creek Peoples Church Frail Aged Center (pictured) was attacked by a gang of youths on Sunday night

She said she was “very upset” to leave the 18 residents, who now have just two nurses on duty and four local staff looking after them.

“I wasn’t ready to leave like that, I was in disbelief,” she said.

Halls Creek Senior Constable Ben Flynn said no one has yet been charged in Sunday’s attack, but police have “a good idea” who the perpetrators are.

“We get a lot of complaints about these kids throwing rocks through Halls Creek and identification is the problem,” he said.

The police took the nurses to a hotel after the attack.

Mrs. McCullough said a few days earlier that a boy tried to hit her with a crate.

She said nurses “take care of the residents, but nobody takes care of us and the residents at the same time.” There is no protection.’

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Ms McCullough, the Halls Creek Peoples Church Frail Aged Center and Halls Creek Police for further comment.