Detective Senior Constable MacDonald managed to return fire with his police-issued shotgun, shattering the van's rear window and mortally wounding Marinof. The vehicle then veered off the road, crashing through a wooden fence into a paddock. When Marinof's vehicle was spotted in the paddock, officers surrounded the vehicle and found Marinof's body in the driver's seat. Both Sergeant Kapetanovski and Senior Constable MacDonald later made a full recovery from their wounds. The Russell Street bombing on 27 March 1986 and the death of Constable Angela Taylor from her injuries 24 days later, had heighten fears within the Victoria Police that any officer on duty elsewhere could be considered as a target of a criminal attack. Those fears were later justified six months to day of the Russell Street Bombing. In the early hours of 27 September 1986, Senior Constable Maurice Moore was on duty at the Maryborough police station when he left the station to get a bottle of milk from his home. As Moore's patrol car turned onto Brougham Street, he came across two men pushing a stolen vehicle. One of the men quickly fled when he saw Moore's patrol car coming towards them, the other man was quickly detained by Moore. As Moore was taking down the details of the offense, the detained offender, 28-year-old invalid Robert Nowell, overpowered Senior Constable Moore, grabbing Moore's police-issued service revolver and shot Moore five times, killing him. Nowell later gave himself up to police in Ballarat and was later convicted of Moore's murder on 8 September 1987. This period of the 1980s saw a high number of armed robberies being committed throughout Melbourne to a point where they had become a problem for police forces across Australia. Rather than committing robberies on impulse, professional armed robbers organised in gangs, began planning their robberies in advance by conducting surveillance on targets known to carry large amount of cash, selecting gang members, assigning roles, organising weaponry and equipment needed, arranging the getaway vehicles, and organising safehouses. The armed robbery gangs not only carried out their robberies with precision, they also carried out their robberies with threats of violence. Prior events On 11 October 1988, Peirce's best friend, Graeme Jensen, was fatally shot by police in Narre Warren. Jensen had been under observation by the Victoria Police Armed Robbery Squad, who had planned to arrest him in connection with an armed robbery and murder.