A man was shot dead after confronting police with a rifle on a main road, as shocked witnesses told how he opened fire on them as he passed by.
Two officers shot the 36-year-old man as he got out of a stolen car along the Bruce Highway in central Queensland and pointed the rifle at them, police say.
The man had stolen the vehicle containing the rifle and ammunition south of Gladstone on Monday.
Police said he later confronted a 61-year-old woman at an address in the Coliseum with the gun and demanded her car keys.
“He then stole another four-wheel drive vehicle from that direction, drove through… (and) destroyed the front door on the way out,” Detective Superintendent Darrin Shadlow said.
A witness revealed that he saw a police alert that an armed man in a stolen Land Cruiser was heading towards his bar.
Moments later, other bullet-riddled vehicles arrived.
“I was just shooting at whatever was passing by as I walked by,” the man told 9News.
‘A trucker came in who had a couple of bullet holes in his truck where he had been shot. He was a little upset… I made him some coffee.’
The Bruce Highway was closed for hours before being reopened on Monday night.
The man allegedly stole a vehicle containing the rifle and ammunition south of Gladstone on Monday.
A police cruiser later encountered the stolen van on Bruce Highway, but did not attempt to intercept it.
Detective Superintendent Shadlow said the man pulled over to the side of the road and got out, pointing the loaded rifle at police.
The officers told him to drop the gun, but “he did not do so and, unfortunately, the police had to attack and subsequently shoot that man.”
Officers performed CPR and called paramedics, but the man died at the scene.
“It’s obviously a very tragic circumstance,” Detective Shadlow said.
‘The police are not going to work waiting for this to happen. However, they are trained and prepared if something like this happens.
“Unfortunately, this man has given the police no choice.”
Detective Superintendent Shadlow did not detail how many shots were fired by police but said advice would be given to the officers involved.
—Yesterday afternoon they were shocked. They are being given all the support,’ she stated.
The incident is being investigated by the Ethical Standards Command.
The Bruce Highway was closed for hours before being reopened on Monday night.
Police respond to shooting south of Gladstone
The 36-year-old was from Cairns but had been traveling “in and around central Queensland” over the past week.
“We have had some interactions with him,” Detective Superintendent Shadlow said.
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