Inquest into police shooting of Ben Freear underway in Hervey Bay

A man who police shot dead at Tiaro told his brother he was going to ‘go out in a blaze of glory’ before the stand-off that led to his death, an inquest has heard.

Benjamin Anthony Freear, 40, died on December 8, 2019, the day after he opened fire on his partner and her children.

A man told his brother he was going to “go out in a blaze of glory” before he was shot dead by police after firing a volley of bullets at two light armoured vehicles on his property.

Benjamin Anthony Freear, 40, died on December 8, 2019, the day after he opened fire on his partner and her children.

On Monday, an inquest into Mr Freear’s death started in Hervey Bay, overseen by Coroner Terry Ryan.

Detective Senior Sergeant Stuart Mash, who led the internal investigation of the incident, was the first to testify at the inquest.

He said his investigation found the specialist officers who shot Mr Freear acted lawfully and in accordance with their training on the day of the incident.

Det Mash said the incident began when Mr Freear, who had two firearms but had never held a licence to own the weapons, started driving erratically while returning from a neighbouring property with his partner, Lisa McGregor, and her two sons.

He had been drinking heavily on the day of the incident and was also taking medication.

After Ms McGregor said she was scared of his manner of driving, he stopped near the bush camp where they were living and told her and her children to get out.

Benjamin Anthony Freear, 40, died the day after he opened fire on his partner and her children.

During her testimony on Monday, Ms McGregor said she had told her children to get in her car so they could leave.

But Mr Freear had returned with a rifle, placed it at her temple and told her to get out of the car.

He then struck Ms McGregor in the arm with the butt of the firearm before firing shots.

A neighbour came to the scene to help Ms McGregor and put one of the boys in the car.

She also fled the property with her other son in her vehicle while being fired upon.

The shots did damage to her car, including the radiator, causing the vehicle to breakdown while Ms McGregor attempted to drive to Maryborough.

Det Mash said the decision was made to wait until the next morning for specialist police to attend the property for safety reasons rather than attempting to speak to Mr Freear in the night.

The following morning, specialist police drove onto the property using light armoured vehicles.

One of the vehicles at a clearing at the rear of the property was fired upon from a distance, Det Mash said.

An officer got out of the vehicle and fired back, before the car was reversed.

Mr Freear then fired on a second light armed vehicle, which also reversed back to try to allow him some space.

He then got in his Landcruiser and drove towards the vehicle, Det Mash said.

The officers were aware Mr Freear had a high-powered rifle, he said, and was reputed to be a good shot.

The officers positioned back as far as they could safely go as he approached but were told not to let Mr Freear to continue past that point.

The officers then engaged Mr Freear and could see he still had his rifle and was “hunkering down”.

In order to stop the vehicle, the officers fired towards the car and it came to a halt.

The crime scene where a man was shot dead by police.

Mr Freear got out of the car while still holding the rifle and he was shot a number of times, Det Mash said.

One round went through the top of his spine, which quickly led to his death despite efforts from officers to render first aid.

None of the vehicles were equipped with dashcams and none of the officers were wearing bodycams at the time of the shooting, Det Mash said.

The court heard it took an hour after Mr Freear was shot for an ambulance to arrive at the scene.

Det Mash said while often an ambulance was kept in a safe zone near an incident, on this occasion that wasn’t the case.

Barrister Bianca Stringer, representing Mr Freaar’s family, said Mr Freear had told his brother Nick he was going to “go out in a blaze of glory”.

She asked Det Mash if there was any reason the brother had not been interviewed as part of the investigation.

Det Mash said attempts had been made to speak with Mr Freear’s brother, but the Covid-19 pandemic had at first made it challenging and then he had declined to be interviewed, he said.

The officers involved in the shooting will testify before the inquest on Tuesday.

Originally published as Inquest into police shooting of Ben Freear underway in Hervey Bay