Police officer who shot Bourke St attacker Hassan Khalif Shire Ali feared he could be killed

The police officer who shot dead Bourke St attacker Hassan Khalif Shire Ali as he brandished a knife was in fear for his life, an inquest has heard.

The 2018 Bourke St attack which claimed the life of restaurant identity Sisto Malaspina is being probed in a coronial inquest.

A rookie cop who fatally shot Hassan Khalif Shire Ali feared the Bourke St attacker was going to kill him.

The officer — in the job for only a few months — tried to fend off a knife-wielding Shire Ali with a police baton before reaching for his gun.

He pleaded for the 30-year-old, who had repeatedly tried to stab the officer’s offsider, to drop the knife before firing a single shot.

“I thought he was going to kill us,’’ the officer, who can only be identified as Police Officer A1 told a coronial inquest.

“After I shot him, he stopped.

“He stopped on the spot. The man still had the knife in his hand after I shot him. The man stood for a second or so before he went to his knees.”

Police from the Critical Incident Response Team used Tasers to incapacitate Shire Ali, who tried to get up despite his injury.

Officer A1’s offsider, known only as Police Officer B2, had earlier deployed OC spray but it failed to stop Shire Ali’s rampage.

“The OC struck the man’s face and he staggered back a little bit. I think he wiped his face but I didn’t hear any shouts of pain,’’ Officer A1 told the inquest.

“His eyes were back open and focused back on us. The knife was still in his hand.

“I yelled at him: ‘Drop the knife’.

“The man was continuing to advance on us and I feared for the safety of Officer B2 and myself.

“The man started walking towards officer B2 and raised the knife.

“I was concerned that he might stab B2 in the face or neck.

“At this point I fired one shot from my firearm.

“The man was erratic — he was walking in different directions. His face was gnarled and angry. He was scowling at both of us.”

The scene of the attack in Bourke St in which Pellegrini’s co-owner Sisto Malaspina was killed.

Officer B2, on patrol with Officer A1 in the Bourke Street Mall when they saw Shire Ali’s gas-laden ute on fire, initially thought the attacker was a witness or needed help when he approached their divisional van at the scene.

Shire Ali immediately began attacking the officer as he opened the car door.

“He reached in and aggressively started punching me,’’ Officer B2 told the inquest.

“I got out of the vehicle and I tried to get him in a headlock. I tried to get my two hands around the back of his neck but I couldn’t hold him. He slipped out.”

Officer B2 reached for his gun after the OC spray failed to work and felt justified to take a shot but was on an awkward angle.

“I instinctively put my arm up because I believed he was going to strike me,’’ Officer B2 said.

“He was rushing straight at me and I was backing off trying to make distance. His arm was thrusting down at me. Then somehow he was behind me. He was rushing at A1. I saw his hand was raised with the knife in his hand thrusting down towards A1.”

Both officers said a Taser — only issued to frontline police in regional areas — would have been useful.

A police panel reviewing the incident recommended a rollout of the electroshock weapons to all operational general duties police be expedited as a “matter of urgency”.

Acting Sgt Lachlan Heffernan, who was off-duty when he heard the ute explode and raced to the scene, said Shire Ali emerged from behind the vehicle like an “apparition” in a Hollywood movie.

Sgt Heffernan screamed at officers A1 and B2 to draw their guns as they clashed with Shire Ali, saying he had no doubt the attacker was trying to kill them.

Flowers left at Pellegrini’s in honour of co-owner Sisto Malaspina, who was killed in the Bourke Street attack. Picture: David Crosling

“He came from behind the burning vehicle,’’ Sgt Heffernan, then a senior constable, told the court.

“Not to get too melodramatic it was a bit like a Hollywood movie — there’s this apparition coming from the flames.

“The male was chasing after the police trying to slash them with the knife.

“He was almost chasing them around the police divisional van.

“Both police members used the option of a baton and they were trying to knock the knife out of his hand.

“I realised the male was executing a plan. He was intent on doing as much harm as he could and he was directing his actions towards the police members.

“After observing the way he was slashing at these coppers, it was my opinion that he was trying to kill them. He was slashing at their necks and faces.”

Sgt Heffernan tended to a wounded Shire Ali — who had ignored at least one other plea to drop the knife — after he was shot.

He repeated the words “Allahu Akbar” as he continued struggling and kicking so strenuously his pants ended up around his ankles.

“The male was talking. I was listening because I thought that there might have been some confession or something like that about why all of this had occurred,’’ Sgt Heffernan told the inquest.

“The only thing that he was saying was Allahu Akbar. He kept saying that over and over again. He must have said it at least 10 to 15 times. The male was starting to get pretty weak by that stage so he wasn’t yelling it. He was just saying it but it was clearly audible to me and to those in the nearby vicinity.”

Pellegrini’s co-owner Sisto Malaspina was killed in the November 2018 attack.

The inquest continues.

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