Police have backed an officer shooting an alleged knife-wielding man on a property central Queensland saying the experienced Senior Constable ‘had no choice’.
A single officer was called to a home on Running Creek Rd in Kilkivan, near Gympie, on Friday afternoon after reports of a ‘disturbance’ and located a 52-year-old man with fatal stab wounds who was later pronounced dead at the scene.
A second man, aged 42, was shot once in the chest after allegedly threatening the responding officer with a knife, a Queensland Police spokesman said.
A small community in central Queensland has been rocked by a fatal stabbing with an officer shooting the alleged knifeman
The man remained in the Sunshine Coast University Hospital on Saturday in a critical condition
Detective Acting Superintendent Paul Algie said the officer from Kilkivan station had attempted to defuse the situation.
‘The police officer attempted to retreat and negotiate with the man and did that for an extended period of time … unfortunately he was left with no further action but to fire his service pistol,’ Det Algie said in a press conference on Saturday.
‘He shot him once in the chest and then went to his aid immediately to provide first aid as per his training.
‘Upon arrival from back up police, his colleagues and friends from Goomeri, assisted in first aid for not only the suspect but the man who had been stabbed initially.’
The officer involved had 10 years experience in policing and has a young family.
Det Algie described the incident as shocking and said it was an ‘unusual set of circumstances’ for the quiet law-abiding district where he has been stationed since 2017.
‘I can confirm that nothing like this has occurred in that community in the time that I’ve been in the area,’ Det Algie said.
While the family was known to police it was only in the context of being a small community where everybody knew everybody.
Police had never been called out to the property previously for a complaint or emergency.
‘Kilkivan is a very small country community and our officers in that community are obviously very concerned about what occurred,’ Det Algie said.
‘As the district officer this is the worst phone call that you can receive.
‘Preliminary investigations do reveal the alleged offender was holding a knife and that knife was being held when he was shot.
‘There is generally no crime in the community and so this is a very shocking thing.’
Police say the two men had a ‘familial relationship’ and both lived at the property with healthcare workers supporting the residents.
A crime scene has been declared at the address and police investigations are continuing
Responding to a question about whether the deceased man had a physical disability and was wheelchair bound, Acting Superintendent Algie said investigators were still piecing together his physical condition.
He told media the sole-responding officer had attended as back-up for paramedics who had been called to the property.
A Queensland Police Service spokesman said the alleged homicide and subsequent shooting was being investigated by the Ethical Standards Command, with oversight by the Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC).
‘A crime scene has been declared at the address and police investigations are continuing,’ the spokesman said.
Police have also launched a separate homicide probe into the alleged stabbing.