Ominous note left at convenience store before firebombing attack

A Melbourne shop owner says he received an extortion note on the doorstep of his convenience store just weeks before the property was ram-raided and set alight in an early-morning attack.

A stolen Tesla backed into the convenience store on Lower Dandenong Road in Mentone around 4am on Tuesday before it was set alight. 

The firebombing caused powerlines to spark and fall across the road, forcing around 20 neighbours to evacuate their homes in the pouring rain.

“It just got worse and worse – really, really loud, almost like fireworks,” one local said.

“I just moved in on Saturday, (it’s) really scary.”

“It’s happening too much. It really is. Just happening everywhere,” a nearby business owner added.

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The owner of the destroyed business, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said he was heartbroken.

“It makes me sad, you know. We put up a lot of our time, hard work into this shop, and we’ve become sort of a family,” the owner said.

The shop owner had been staying at the back of the store until he received an extortion note a couple of weeks ago.

“A week or two weeks ago a note was left on my roller shutter of the shop, saying that I need to contact the commission, and a WhatsApp number was left there,” he said.

“I didn’t contact them, I just went straight to the police and reported it.”

The shop owner says he sells tobacco products.

Police have deemed the fire suspicious.

The arsonist fled the scene in a getaway car and remains on the loose.