Fugitive Stanley Turvey’s final moments before shooting revealed in court

Fugitive Stanley Turvey walked towards police armed with a shotgun and said, “I’m going to shoot you or you’re going to shoot me” moments before he was gunned down, a court has heard.

The final words of an armed fugitive shot dead by police after a two-day manhunt were “I’m going to shoot you or you’re going to shoot me”, a court has heard.

Stanley Turvey, 33, recognisable by his distinctive facial tattoos, went on a violent crime spree in Victoria and NSW after police visited his Katandra West home to conduct a firearms prohibition order check last month.

After taking people hostage and stealing a car, his rampage ended two days later in Ardmona near Shepparton where specialist police shot him dead.

The Victorian Coroner’s Court on Tuesday heard moments before Turvey’s death, he walked towards police armed with a shotgun and said: “I’m going to shoot you or you’re going to shoot me.”

Turvey launched a violent crime spree in the days before his death. Picture: Facebook

Turvey’s death is being investigated by a coroner and will be subject to an inquest, as is mandatory for deaths that occur in custody or while attempting to take someone into custody.

The inquest will examine the circumstances of the shooting and likely probe the response by police, though it is too early in the investigation to know the scope.

The court heard police were not outfitted with body-worn cameras, possibly for “tactical reasons”, so the shooting was not recorded,

In a summary read to the court, Counsel Assisting the Coroner Lindsay Spence said Shepparton police attempted to serve a firearms prohibition on Turvey at his Katandra West home on September 18.

Officers saw Turvey run out a back door to a rear bungalow and retrieve a double-barrelled sawn off shotgun which he pointed at them before threatening to kill himself.

He then fired the gun in the air before taking off in a car and narrowly avoiding police.

Police block off a road in Ardmona where fugitive Stanley Turvey was shot dead. Picture: David Crosling

A short time later, he crashed into a fence before entering a property and demanding a woman drive him to his uncle’s home in Finley, NSW.

“The female resident was home at the time with her 18-year-old daughter and persuaded Stanley to allow her to call her husband who returned to the property and agreed to drive,” Mr Spence said.

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

The court heard Turvey lay on the floor of the back seat, enabling the car to pass through a police roadblock before he was dropped off in the NSW town.

He then made his way to Yarrawonga where he threatened two electricians and workers at a job site and took off in a stolen car.

Police tracked him the following day to a rural address on Turnbull Rd in Ardmona, near Shepparton, where he was shot dead during a standoff.

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

He was released from prison in October 2021 after serving a 33-month sentence for armed robbery before he was extradited to Queensland to face a rape charge.

Turvey was convicted of that charge and given a five-year suspended sentence before he returned to Victoria in July this year after living with family in Grafton, NSW.

The coronial investigation will be led by a homicide squad detective, with a brief of evidence to be served by February 29.