Repeat parole 'definition of crazy' union head says after teen allegedly shot

A police union president has said penalties are not strong enough to stop people from reoffending after a man on parole over the shooting of a teenager a decade ago allegedly shot another teenager last weekend.

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"Doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome is the definition of crazy," Australian Federal Police Association president Alex Caruana told The Canberra Times.

Reece Anthony Salcedo during a 2024 arrest. Picture by Megan Doherty

Multiple allegations of crimes over the past few months being committed by people on parole or community sentences have raised new concerns about repeat offenders in the ACT.

He told The Canberra Times that the penalties for committing crimes while on parole or a community sentence were not enough to dissuade people from reoffending.

Mr Caruana said ACT members had told him that 90 per cent of crimes were being committed by one per cent of the community.

"At what point does [the judicial system] go 'let's try something different'?" he asked.

While a court sets an offender's non-parole period as part of their sentence, the granting of parole and management of breaches are determined by the ACT Sentence Administration Board. It is an independent statutory authority.

Alleged shooter granted parole twice

He had been granted parole five-and-a-half months before he allegedly shot at the car on October 9.

The ACT Law Courts building. Picture by Karleen Minney

A bullet is said to have penetrated a teenage passenger's left lower back with no exit wound. He was taken to hospital with serious injuries.

Salcedo faced the ACT Magistrates Court on October 10 and bail was denied.

It is not the first time he had come before the ACT courts for allegedly injuring a child or for weapons-related crimes.

Almost 10 years ago, when he was aged just 19, Salcedo and another man were involved in a violent home invasion during which a man was shot in the bicep and a 13-year-old girl in the buttocks.

Salcedo received 10-year jail sentence with a five-year non-parole period. He would have been eligible for parole in February 2022.

While on parole in August 2024, he was arrested in bizarre circumstances after being found hiding in a cubby house after a police chase.

Salcedo was later found not guilty of two charges of unauthorised possession or use of firearms and one charge of possessing ammunition. A charge of failing to stop for police was withdrawn.

He pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and was handed a three-month and 15-day prison sentence. He was also fined $15 for property damage.

Salcedo is set to return to court for his most recent alleged crimes next month.

Domestic violence and crashing into police car allegations

The Alexander Maconochie Centre, Canberra's adult jail. Picture by Keegan Carroll

Bradley John Wilson, 26, had only been released from jail hours before he lured a drug dealer to a house and shot him in the face with a homemade shotgun in an "act of retribution".

He was in breach of two good behaviour orders, for unrelated crimes, after being released on a suspended sentence on the day of the attack on March 21, 2025.

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