00:01The coroner here in Perth has questioned what constitutes a priority one job after a frantic
00:08call to triple zero describing a shooting in a domestic violence situation was initially marked
00:14a priority two. Mark Bombara fatally shot his wife's best friend Jennifer Batelchik and her
00:20teenage daughter Gretel in May 2024 before turning the gun on himself. Bombara had gone to their
00:26floor at home searching for his estranged wife. As shots were fired the gunman's daughter Ariel
00:32Bombara rang triple zero. She and her mother heard the murders in real time while they're on the phone
00:38with Jennifer Batelchik. She urgently gave the operator the address and said two shots had been
00:44fired. Despite this the job was marked a priority two. On reflection a WA police commander told the
00:51inquest the call taker got it wrong. Commander Jason Longhorn from State Intelligence said while
00:57the response time for priority one and two calls are the same there is a difference. Priority one
01:03jobs are rare and the commander told the court it would have highlighted the significance and the
01:07gravity of the incident. The inquest is expected to hear from WA police's internal affairs unit this
01:14afternoon as the family had been trying to warn police Bombara was a real and imminent threat
01:20for weeks leading up to the shootings but no appropriate action was taken.
