Fugitive gunman Stanley Turvey holding unloaded shotgun during fatal stand-off

A fugitive gunman was holding an unloaded shotgun when he was shot dead by police at a property near Shepparton after a two-day cross border manhunt, a court has heard.

A fugitive gunman was holding an unloaded shotgun when he was killed by police following a two-day cross border manhunt, a court has heard.

Stanley Turvey, 33, took multiple innocent people, including a mother and her six-year-old son, hostage while on the run from police in September 2023.

Wearing makeup to disguise his distinctive facial tattoos, the father-of-four went to extreme lengths to avoid police capture, telling an associate the day of his death “you know how this is going to end. This only ends one way.”

He was shot dead by the Special Operations Group (SOG) at a property in Ardmona, near Shepparton, on September 20 after coming at tactical officers with a double-barrelled sawn off shotgun.

An inquest into Turvey’s death by the Coroners Court of Victoria revealed his shotgun was not loaded at the time of his death.

Turvey had been inside the house cleaning his weapon when tactical police unexpectedly arrived, demanding he drop the shotgun as he exited the house with his firearm first pointed at himself.

Turvey was shot dead by police after a two-day cross border manhunt.

The court heard Turvey was then shot twice to the chest and once to the shoulder after he turned his shotgun in the direction of a SOG officer and a woman he knew as ‘Mumsie’, who was following a police order to move toward them.

“I believed they were in danger significantly so I fired three shots to the torso,” the SOG officer recalled.

“His eyes were wild.”

State Coroner Judge John Cain ruled the use of lethal force complied with “legislative requirements” and that police were not to know Turvey’s firearm was empty.

There was no body-worn camera footage or radio recorded evidence of the deadly siege, unlike in most police incidents.

The court heard SOGs are not required to wear body-worn cameras as most of their work is covert, making such equipment impractical.

It was revealed during the inquest that Victoria Police is exploring the viability of small cameras to be fitted onto the helmets of SOG officers during overt operations, such as sieges.

Turvey had a grenade tattoo on the side of his face. Picture: Victoria Police

Judge Cain recommended helmet-worn cameras or a similar technology is rolled out across SOG teams for use in overt operations, if deemed viable.

He said the importance of camera-recorded evidence at police incidents “cannot be overstated” for the purposes of accountability and transparency.

Turvey went on the run on September 18 after police visited his Katandra West home to conduct a firearms prohibition order check.

Arming himself with a shotgun, he fired the weapon in the air before taking off in a car, narrowly avoiding police.

While on the run, he threatened multiple victims including a construction worker who he punched twice in the face in Yarrawonga while demanding keys to his car.

The court heard he also forced a woman to drive him around the Shepparton area while her six-year-old son was seated in the back seat.

Earlier he broke into the Finlay, NSW home of a mother-of-three and told her partner over the phone that she was “going to be the next hostage”.

“I was so scared of Stanley and what he could come back and do to myself and my family,” the mother told police.

Turvey had an extensive criminal history.

The court heard Turvey had an extensive criminal history and had been charged 19 times with a total 115 offences for family violence, threats and assaults, robbery, drug, firearm and sexual offences.

His final term of imprisonment ended in Queensland in December 2022 after he was convicted of rape.

The court heard he was desperate not to return to prison and refused pleas by his father to turn himself in.

In victim impact statements, his family said Turvey had been let down by the state’s mental health system from a young age.

Prior to the siege, Turvey stopped taking medication to manage his psychotic and mental conditions because they made him feel tired.

The family said he was not given support or resources to transition to life outside prison, where he’d spent most of his adult life.

“He was screaming for help on the inside but never given the skill set to ask for help,” read a family statement.

The family said Turvey would be remorseful to his victims if he was alive today.