Timeline of events in Cairns police shooting, patrol car chase
Heart-stopping video has captured the moment a man, believed to have doused himself in petrol, threatened police with a machete before stealing a cop car. See the timeline of events.
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Heart-stopping video has captured the moment a man, believed to have doused himself in petrol, threatened police with a machete before stealing a cop car.
The 21-year-old was later shot by a police officer, almost three hours after first responders arrived at an incident involving the man.
The dramatic pursuit started at 5.30am, when police responded to reports of a distressed woman in Westcourt.
The man then allegedly stole a vehicle sometime in the early hours of Wednesday morning, leading to a car chase during peak hour across the city.
What happened between then and the moment the man was shot and captured will be investigated by the Ethical Standards Command, which is subject to oversight from the Crime and Corruption Commission.
However, video shared with the Cairns Post shows around 8am the man taunted police with a metal bar and machete on Newell St in Bungalow. An onlooker said they believed the man doused himself in petrol to avoid being tasered.
Footage also shows the armed man with no shirt throwing an object at a Mulgrave Rd business, smashing the window of a police car and lunging at a police officer before driving off in an allegedly stolen police vehicle.
The chase ended at 8.12am with a multi-vehicle crash involving the stolen car at the corner of Sondrio and Torino streets outside the Woree IGA, several suburbs away from the where police first responded to the incident.
A police officer shot the man after police units boxed in the offender.
Angus Macnamara, a nurse working at a nearby medical centre, rushed to the care of the 21-year-old.
“All I heard were a bunch of sirens, there were a bunch of people standing at the door saying, ‘Someone just got shot’,” the 26-year-old said.
“Me and one of the doctors went out there to help. The cops seemed to have it under control.
“They were stopping the bleeding from the man’s neck.”
Police have declared multiple crime scenes.
Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service has confirmed the 21-year-old man is conscious and in a stable condition.
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Originally published as Timeline of events in Cairns police shooting, patrol car chase
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