REMEMBER WHEN

GOLD COAST BULLETIN Friday, March 25, 2005

POLICE shot and killed a carjacker in Southport.

Officers fired at the man on the footpath of SouthportNerang Rd about 7pm.

Minutes before, he had fled on foot after terrorising an elderly woman in her car in Ferry Rd.

It was believed to be the first fatal shooting of a man by a police officer on the Gold Coast.

The two uniformed police officers approached the man, who allegedly lifted his shirt to grab a knife.

Police ordered him to drop the knife, and opened fire when he did not do so.

It was not known if they had used capsicum spray.

Police radioed for help and said: “We had to shoot … there’s one man down.”

Paramedics tried to revive the man at the scene before he was rushed to Gold Coast Hospital in a critical condition, but he was later confirmed dead.

Acting superintendent Jim Keogh said the officers, whose ranks were not revealed but were both believed to be constables, acted appropriately.

“When a knife is produced it can have fatal consequences,” he said.

“Knives are pulled on police from time to time, but generally people put them down when called upon.

“Police called on the man to drop it (the knife) and he didn’t. We don’t know what sort of knife it is at this point. This is not a good start to Easter.”

Southport resident Andrew Little sat stunned in traffic as the dramatic incident unfolded 20m in front of him.

“The police had stopped some traffic and I was just waiting at the intersection on my moped,” said the 20-year-old.