Tasmania Police officers who fatally shot a man armed with a knife did so as the “very last option” available to them, the force’s assistant commissioner says.
Adrian Bodnar said officers responded to reports the man was threatening members of the public in the vicinity of the Launceston Police Station around 10am on Tuesday.
He said attempts were made to negotiate with the man, however he “ignored repeated warnings” to drop his weapon and continued “making threats”.
“OC spray was subsequently deployed,” Bodnar said. “However, the man continued to advance towards the police.”
A “number of shots” were then fired by the two attending police officers, two of which hit the man in the chest.
He was given medial attention at the scene but later died in the Launceston General Hospital.
One officer was struck to the cheek by a bullet during the ordeal and was also taken to hospital with minor injuries.
“This is a traumatic incident and it’s certainly a tragic outcome that nobody wanted and our thoughts are certainly with everyone involved,” Bodnar said.
“It’s a very difficult time for our police officers and their families and we certainly have some support plans in place for those members.”
Bodnar said that, in addition to a coronal investigation being launched, professional standards would examine the incident and the Integrity Commission has been notified.
“As we know, policing at times can be risky. It’s challenging and it’s certainly a dangerous profession and we’re ensuring that our officers are being provided with all the wellbeing support,” he said.
“Within a moment’s notice things can change. What I will say is that our members were there very swiftly, they implemented their training.”
“As the threats continued towards our police officers, they’ve used a less than lethal option trying to defuse the situation and also to protect themselves from serious injury.”
“For whatever reason that hasn’t worked and then they’ve resulted in lethal force. Now lethal force for a police officer is the very last option.”
“This is not an outcome that we want to see, it’s very tragic but again our people are very well trained to make decisions in situations that are dangerous not only to them but also to members of the public.”
Bodnar was unable to provide further details on the man until police had made contact with his family.
“All I can disclose at this stage is that the man was known to police,” he said.
