Aug 24 2020 rbbm.
Thomas Cooper was shot through the window of his car in 1980.(Supplied: Victoria Police)
$1m reward on offer for information about Melbourne cold case murder
''A $1 million reward is being offered for information about the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Thomas Cooper.
Mr Cooper and his 16-year old girlfriend were sitting in a car at Ricketts Point, in Beaumaris, on August 18, 1980, when a man wearing a hat approached the car and smashed the driver's side window.
Mr Cooper tried to drive away but the man shot him several times.
His girlfriend managed to steer the car away from the area and was uninjured.
Police said the woman died in May this year never knowing why Mr Cooper was murdered.''
''Detective Inspector Dean Thomas, from the Victoria Police Homicide Squad, said the motive for the murder was unclear.
"There are a number of possibilities, including that the shooting was sexually motivated and the girl in the car may have been the target," he said.
"We know that many couples regularly went to this location, so the offender may have been stalking the area in the lead-up to the shooting."
At the time of the murder, police released a composite image of a man they wanted to speak to.
That image has now been forensically updated to show what the man might look like in 2020.
Police also said the man may have been wearing the hat as part of a disguise''.
Thomas Cooper was shot through the window of his car in 1980.(Supplied: Victoria Police)
$1m reward on offer for information about Melbourne cold case murder
''A $1 million reward is being offered for information about the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Thomas Cooper.
Mr Cooper and his 16-year old girlfriend were sitting in a car at Ricketts Point, in Beaumaris, on August 18, 1980, when a man wearing a hat approached the car and smashed the driver's side window.
Mr Cooper tried to drive away but the man shot him several times.
His girlfriend managed to steer the car away from the area and was uninjured.
Police said the woman died in May this year never knowing why Mr Cooper was murdered.''
''Detective Inspector Dean Thomas, from the Victoria Police Homicide Squad, said the motive for the murder was unclear.
"There are a number of possibilities, including that the shooting was sexually motivated and the girl in the car may have been the target," he said.
"We know that many couples regularly went to this location, so the offender may have been stalking the area in the lead-up to the shooting."
At the time of the murder, police released a composite image of a man they wanted to speak to.
That image has now been forensically updated to show what the man might look like in 2020.
Police also said the man may have been wearing the hat as part of a disguise''.