The pocket knife was legal, his parents say. Police shot him three times

It was the visit from police no parent wants, and it took just four minutes. Darren and Nicola Gilbert answered a knock at the front door and were told their son was dead.

How he died, the officers could not say. And then they were gone.

Their 24-year-old, Luke, had been in Airlie Beach, north Queensland, a world away from the Gilberts’ home in Western Australia.

“Those police from WA gave us a number to ring Queensland, and that’s when we found out what happened, after [the officers] left,” Nicola says through tears.

As they dialled Queensland police, the Gilberts were unsure what to expect.

They were told Luke, who had been enjoying a night out at a party precinct, allegedly lunged at police with a knife.

Before long, his death started to appear on television bulletins and news sites, as the Gilberts pieced together what had happened.

Police had fired five bullets at Luke. Three hit him in the chest.

The time was about 12.20am.

The police officers involved in the shooting are still working.Credit: Nine News

Hours after the shooting and ahead of any official investigation, police union president Ian Leavers said Luke had lunged at police and the officers had no alternative but to open fire.

“All of a sudden he has pulled a knife from his hoodie and then started threatening the police,” Leavers said at the time.

Wearing his work gear – a high-vis shirt, with a pocket knife clipped to his belt – Luke had walked along the footpath in the early hours of October 1 last year, passing two officers and seeing another two further up the road.

‘It’s a legal knife you buy in Bunnings.’

Darren Gilbert

While Luke’s parents have seen videos from the night, they chose not to view the footage that showed the final moments of his life.

His family have relied on their lawyer and others to help them process and explain the footage.

Minutes before the shooting, the 24-year-old tradie had left a club to make his way to another bar.

“From what we can gather, Luke was basically walking up the street,” Darren Gilbert says, his tone serious as he describes his son’s last steps.

“He passes two police officers on the left-hand side as he’s walking up.

Luke Gilbert’s family say he would regularly use his pocket knife for work.

“He then passes another two officers.

“Apparently it looks like ... he nearly bumps into [one of the officers], and one of the coppers has said, ‘You all right there?’ like not happy he’s just been bumped into.”

Luke ignores the officers and starts crossing the road.

“So Luke’s got his back to them and then they say, ‘What have you got there?’, so Luke’s turned around,” Darren says.

“Apparently ... this isn’t confirmed because the video we’ve looked at has not shown that, but apparently he unclips the knife and shows them, and that’s when they’ve pulled the guns out.

“I think when he shows them, they’re saying the blade was open.”

The Queensland Police Service has not commented beyond a press conference held immediately after Luke’s death, and has not responded to questions since, explaining the shooting was still under investigation.

“Ethical Standards Command are continuing the investigation into the death of Mr Gilbert and will submit a report to the State Coroner,” a spokesman told Brisbane Times.

Family and friends question the use of force, wondering why non-lethal alternatives, such as Tasers, weren’t used.

At the time, Acting Assistant Commissioner Marcus Hill explained that while there was a “lot of talk around Tasers”, they were “effective in some circumstances, but when people are advancing with a knife, that’s probably not one of them”.

Luke Gilbert had been living in Townsville but travelled to Airlie Beach the day of his death to help a friend with car trouble. Credit: Facebook

Darren says his son would wear the knife almost every day to work without a problem.

“It’s a legal knife you buy in Bunnings,” he says.

“They pull the guns out straight away. But at no point in those 18 seconds did he threaten the police or anybody.”

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In the weeks before Luke’s death, three police were involved in shootings over separate incidents across Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

A week after Luke was killed, police officers shot a man dead in South Brisbane.

And days before this article was published, police shot and killed a man in Mareeba, near Cairns.

The two officers responsible for shooting Gilbert remain on duty at the Whitsundays as the investigation continues.

Police did not respond to questions about whether the two men, who have been in the service for 13 and three years, respectively, were now in operational or desk roles.

After the shooting, the Gilberts say police turned their son onto his front and handcuffed his arms behind his back.

At the time, police said officers administered CPR immediately.

The Gilberts say seven minutes passed before officers provided first aid.

Police say Ethical Standards Command is still investigating the shooting and will prepare a report for the coroner. Credit: Nine News

Luke’s death is different to other fatal police shootings, his family say, as officers weren’t responding to a callout.

“Did you have to kill him to end that situation?” Darren says.

“The answer is no.

“It’s not what one thing could you have used – there’s probably 10 scenarios you could have used to not have caused this, and you chose the one you shouldn’t have.”

The shattered couple question the legitimacy of the investigation and want an independent process under which the Queensland Police Service cannot investigate itself.

“Even the fact that when Queensland informed Western Australia ... we had to learn over the phone. It’s incomprehensible,” Nicola says.

This was standard protocol for WA, who say because the death was in another jurisdiction, it was appropriate the details came from Queensland police.

Protocol is no comfort to the Gilberts.

Each day is a reminder their son – an old-school gentleman with impeccable manners, Nicola says – will no longer be able to go on his much-loved adventures, write poetry during camping trips, or check in with them in WA to reassure them he isn’t travelling through Queensland’s notorious crocodile territories.

“The crux of it is, he didn’t do anything wrong,” Darren says.

“Even the inspector said he did nothing wrong. Had he got arrested, he would have got a slap on the wrist.

“We just read about a case in Cairns in the past month where someone pulled out a proper knife, not a pen knife, and was threatening patrons and police. They arrested him and he then got a fine.

“Luke didn’t do any of that.”