Todd McKenzie shooting death inquest at Taree hears from tactical officer

A tactical response officer who shot mentally ill Taree man Todd McKenzie three times after a nine-hour siege has spoken at the inquest into his death. See what he had to say.

Todd McKenzie.

The tactical response officer who shot mentally ill Taree man Todd McKenzie after a nine-hour siege in 2019 has told an inquest into his death there was time between each shot to assess what he was doing.

The officer who cannot be named for legal reasons was referred to as T-5 during questioning on Tuesday, April 4, during the second week of the inquest on now at Taree.

He is no longer a serving member of the police force.

When it was put to him that the three shots he fired on the evening of July 31 were so close together there wasn’t enough time for full consideration between each one, T-5 disagreed saying.

“But I was assessing it, and he was still upright and a threat after each shot.”

After the third shot he was taken to Manning Base Hospital where he later died.

Todd McKenzie.

Prior to the shooting, tactical officers, who had been divided into two teams - alpha and bravo - had started removing furniture from the front veranda of the Robertson street home.

Asked if this would provoke Mr McKenzie known for being paranoid about people entering his home, T-5 said:

“He wasn’t aware we had done it, he had the blinds closed” and if he had opened the curtains he couldn’t see if the furniture was missing because “it was dark”.

When officers entered the home around 10.15pm, T-5 said he saw Mr McKenzie on the ground as he had been “hit” by a number of nonlethal measures to try and restrain him.

Robertson Street, Taree.

The inquest heard that Mr McKenzie was able to get up again and a “melee” ensued.

It was then that T-5 heard another tactical officer, referred to as T1, yell “shoot him, shoot him”.

He said this was a “coincidence” as he was drawing his gun at the time he heard those words.

Mr McKenzie who was 40 at the time of the incident had been living with schizophrenia for many years. Greg Knight was his mental health case manager for 13 years and has been sitting in as the inquiry progresses, along with several members of the McKenzie family.

Todd McKenzie's aunty Margarette Hill and mother June Wilkins at Lidcombe Coroner's Court in July 2022.

The family is being represented by human rights law firm the National Justice Project.

In a statement prepared by the firm, Todd’s mother June Wilkins and stepfather Neil Wilkins said he was kind and gentle.

“He wouldn’t have hurt anybody if left alone. He was talented and artistic, and there are a lot of people in Taree who loved Todd.

“The community and his friends respected him for his very giving nature.”

Preparing to lay charges

On Monday Chief Inspector Paul Fuller, who was a local duty officer at the time and was called to the Robertson Street siege, told the inquest that Mr McKenzie appeared delusional and was carrying what he described as a “rather large carving knife”.

Mr Fuller also revealed that officers were preparing to lay charges of intimidation in relation to threats Mr McKenzie had made against neighbours.

The day before the siege neighbours had told police they’d seen Mr McKenzie with a knife.

Former Senior Constable Glenn Larrain, who gave emotional evidence last week, had gone to investigate but couldn’t see anything adding:

“It was a pretty common phone call - it’s Taree mate, there’s plenty of people walking around the streets with knives.”

Challenged him to a fight

Mr Larrain spent about three-and-a-half hours negotiating with Mr McKenzie

Dressed in thongs and a tracksuit, holding his head in his hands at certain points, he told the court that Mr McKenzie was waving a knife around saying “ ‘I’ll f***ing kill you’ and stabbing a knife at the glass, five centimetres away from my forehead - that’s what I remember.”

Former police officer Glenn Larraine who negotiated with Todd McKenzie.

The inquest heard that at one point Mr Larrain challenged Mr McKenzie to a fight but this was “just to keep him talking” as he waited for trained negotiators to arrive.

It was also heard that the ex-officer said to McKenzie:

“At the end of the day, Todd, basically everything you say is a lie. I know you didn‘t serve, I know you weren’t an ANZAC.

“You‘ve done nothing for your country except be a drain on them. Do you get Centrelink? How do you pay for this house?”

Former Senior Constable Glenn Larrain leaves Taree court on March 28.

The inquest heard that at one point during the negotiations Mr Larrain had been directed to stop challenging Mr McKenzie but for reasons he was unable to explain he did not take that advice.

“Because of the stress of the situation I didn’t actually recall the phone call - I recall it now because I’ve seen the footage but at the time for some reason my mind completely blanked.”

But he told the court challenging him seemed to be the “only thing that kept him at the window and talking to me.”

When asked if any further disciplinary action had been taken for him ignoring the advice to change tactics, he said “no because at the time I was on worker’s compensation because I had attempted self harm”.

The inquest continues at Taree Local Court.