Police Commissioner Grant Stevens confirms he was officer who accidentally fired gun in historical police incident

SA’s Police Commissioner accidentally fired his gun during a ’90s heroin raid and says there may be a sinister reason the incident is coming out three decades later.

• How the Sunday Mail broke the story

South Australia’s top cop has sensationally revealed he is under investigation for accidentally firing his gun during a heroin raid and says someone could be out to undermine him 30 years after the incident.

Police Commissioner Grant Stevens outed himself on FIVEAA radio on Wednesday morning confirming he was the officer at the centre of an internal inquiry into an accidental firearm discharge in the early 1990s.

“We were attempting to force entry into a house where a heroin dealer was … and in the course of breaking a window to gain entry, I did discharge my firearm,” he said. 

The admission comes after the Sunday Mail reported a high-ranking police officer was under investigation over historical claims they accidentally discharged their firearm during routine police duties on two separate occasions.

SA Police Commissioner Grant Stevens. Picture: Brett Hartwig

One of the incidents involved a bullet being fired into a house in Adelaide’s northern suburbs while someone was inside. No one was hurt.

A second accidental shot – which Mr Stevens has denied – allegedly occurred months later during another police job. Again, no one was injured.

When pressed in an ABC interview on Wednesday morning if the revelation was an indication someone was out to undermine him, he said it “might be the case”.

Mr Stevens said the “very detailed inquiry” received by police indicated it may have come from “someone who was either there or has access to records regarding the incident”.

He was quizzed on radio if he suspected who had released the information.

“Given the level of detail (reported), I have some appreciation … I know who was there on the day,” he said.

“I consider most of those people friends, so I don’t know that it would be them.”

Mr Stevens also detailed the 1990s incident further during the interview.

Grant Stevens’ application photo. Picture: Supplied by SAPOL

Grant Stevens as a cadet in 1982. Picture: Supplied by SAPOL

“Thirty-four years ago I was an investigator with the Elizabeth CIB, and we were doing a raid on a known drug offender who was dealing in heroin,” he said.

“Our procedures were very different, the type of equipment we carried was also very different, and the rules around frontline operational investigators doing their own armed forced entries were also very different.

“In the course of trying to gain entry to that house, I accidentally discharged my firearm.”

He said no one was injured, his supervisor was present at the time and a report to the then Internal Investigation Branch was filed on the day with him receiving “managerial guidance”.

Mr Stevens denied accidentally firing a firearm twice and said there was only ever once incident.

When asked why the information had come out three decades on, Mr Stevens said he was not sure and the incident was “the worst-kept secret”.

“I have never resiled from the fact that this incident happened,” he said.

“I’ve never, I’ve never shied away from this.

“I’ve actually relayed the story on occasions over the last 34 years for different reasons to let other police officers understand how fragile circumstances can be and accidents do happen.

“And when you do make mistakes, the best thing to do is to own up to them and let the process unfold.”

Mr Stevens said he did not consider the revelation damaging but described the inquiry into the incident as “very detailed”.

How the Sunday Mail broke the story on June 29, 2025.

“I’m not in a position to question or comment on the motives of whoever spoke to the journalist who made the inquiry with SAPOL,” he said

“It was a very detailed inquiry, clearly, it was someone who was either there or has access to records regarding the incident.”

After The Advertiser sent a list of questions to police media, they were forward to SA Police’s Ethical and Professional Standards Branch.

Mr Stevens said because the Ethical and Professional Standards Branch had received the information, it constituted a complaint under the Act and they were bound to do an assessment.