Carindale Goodlife gymgoers’ battle to save bikie associate Levi Johnston stabbed to death Brisbane
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A gymgoer has described the bloody, chaotic scene of a brutal bikie stabbing as witnesses desperately fought to save a young man’s life.
Comancheros associate Levi Johnston, 23, was stabbed to death in an ambush outside a Goodlife gym in Carindale, Brisbane, about 1pm on Monday.
His car was hemmed in and rammed as he tried to leave the driveway before five attackers smashed his window with a crowbar and he fled.
Mr Johnston didn’t get far before one of the men caught up and stabbed him in a frenzy, leaving him bleeding on the road.
Champion track cyclist Peter Makras was one of the first on the scene and helped try to revive the mortally wounded man as he lay in a pool of blood.
Comancheros associate Levi Johnston, 23, (body covered by a tarp pictured right) was stabbed to death in an ambush outside a Goodlife gym in Carindale, Brisbane, about 1pm on Monday
Champion track cyclist Peter Makras (pictured) was one of the first on the scene and helped try to revive the mortally wounded man as he lay in a pool of blood
The electrician said he thought Mr Johnston had been hit by a car until he saw the ‘deep cuts near his chest’ from the assassin’s knife.
‘The guy was half on the road and half on the footpath with people trying to help him,’ he told Daily Mail Australia.
Mr Makras and several others tried to staunch the bleeding, hold the wounds closed, and revive Mr Johnston with a defibrillator when they lost his pulse.
The shaken Good Samaritan said the scene was chaos with numerous people battling to save the injured man’s life.
‘There was blood everywhere, a couple times I had to move the towel and the awkward position I was in I was pretty much above him – up close and personal,’ he said.
‘I just did what I could do at the time. He already had lost a lot of blood.’
Mr Makras, who as an electrician is trained to use a defibrillator, shocked Mr Johnston several times trying to get a pulse until paramedics arrived.
Police speak to a witness at the scene in Brisbane as they try to piece together the shocking crime
He watched as the wounded bikie was loaded into an ambulance and rushed from the scene, not knowing if he would live or die.
‘I’m doing all right but I was really sad to hear he died,’ he said.
Four alleged gangsters are on the run and a fifth was tracked down and arrested near the scene on Monday.
Mr Johnston, who is known to the Comancheros but is not a patched member, was driving a Mercedes when a black Audi A3 hatchback pulled up behind him.
Police said CCTV showed he was then rammed from the front by a white Nissan Patrol and five men burst out of two cars and smashed his windows with a crowbar.
The driver managed to escape the car via the passenger door but was chased by the group. When they caught up with him, one of the pursuers stabbed him multiple times and left him for dead.
Mr Johnston was previously one of two men stabbed a year ago on the Gold Coast during a fight involving bikie gang associates. It is not known whether the two stabbings are connected.
The man was stabbed multiple times at 1pm outside a Goodlife gym on the corner of Creek and Pine Mountain roads (pictured) at Carindale
Queensland Police Detective Superintendent Andrew Massingham said he had seen some CCTV footage of the incident and ‘it is horrific’.
‘It is a disturbing act, it is a brazen act… it is cowardly,’ he said, adding that the stabbing was over in ‘less than five seconds’.
The four men who had been in the Nissan sped away from the scene, while the man with the Audi was unable to start his car and fled on foot.
Superintendent Massingham said from the ‘graphic’ CCTV footage he had seen, the attackers were not wearing disguises.
A search of the local area for the man who fled on foot led to the discovery of two backpacks, which are being forensically examined.
The police said both of the backpacks came from the Audi.
It is possible the men in the Nissan doubled back to pick up the man who fled on foot, Superintendent Massingham said, before he was arrested.
Officers on scene have closed the intersection of Pine Mountain and Creek roads in Carindale (pictured)
Superintendent Massingham told reporters off duty medical personnel tried to help the victim at the scene but were unable to save him.
Though the motivation for the killing is unknown, police are investigating if the stabbing is connected to motorcycle gang activities.
A bystander said up to 50 people were at the scene and the gym was evacuated.
Another said they saw police chase a man up a hill away from the gym.
‘Police were redirecting traffic,’ they said.
‘Then across the road from the gym, paramedics were attending to someone on the ground who did not look like they were in a good condition.
‘There was a huge crowd of people there and everyone had their phones out filming.
‘Lots of police and paramedics on scene and a chopper flying too.’
Police officers and vehicles are pictured at the scene of a fatal stabbing outside a Brisbane gym
Officers on scene closed the intersection of Pine Mountain and Creek roads in Carindale.
Superintendent Massingham said a post-mortem examination will be carried out on the victim early on Tuesday.
He said significant resources have been allocated to the case and he is hopeful of a ‘swift resolution’.
Police appealed for witnesses to come forward and for people to share any dashcam footage they may have with the police.