Sergeant ‘dumbfounded’ by response team’s refusal to act on Bourke St killer
A quick-thinking police sergeant devised a bold plan to arrest James Gargasoulas — before the Bourke st massacre unfolded — with the help of a specialised response team. But he says the team were “looking for an excuse” not to help in the “textbook” job.
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A police sergeant who knew the location of the Bourke St killer hours before his deadly rampage said he was “dumbfounded” by the Critical Incident Response Team’s refusal to act on the crucial information.
Sergeant Frank Caridi said he believed CIRT’s Acting Sergeant Kalev Jones was “looking for an excuse” not to assist in the arrest of James Gargasoulas in the aftermath of the near-fatal stabbing of his brother, Angelo, in the early hours of January 20, 2017.
Mr Caridi, who was one of the first officers on the ground, said he had devised a plan to block Gargasoulas’ car with an unmarked CIRT van after using telephone “pings” to zero in on his location.
Investigators believed he was sitting stationary in a suburban St Kilda street less than two minutes drive from the scene of his earlier attack.
Mr Caridi told a the coronial inquest into the Bourke St massacre he repeatedly requested the help of the critical response team, telling them Gargasoulas was likely armed with a machete and had a “propensity for violence”.
But Mr Caridi claims he was told by Acting Sgt Jones that CIRT would not carry out a mobile intercept and would only attend to once they had contained Gargasoulas’ car themselves.
The now-retired officer of 27 years said attempting to approach Gargasoulas in a marked police car was an “exercise in futility” and he would’ve seen it as “a challenge to get past”.
“The whole idea was to avoid a pursuit, avoid a confrontation,” Mr Caridi said.
Despite his requests to simply attend the scene of the stabbing, Sgt Jones again refused.
“The impression I got was that he was not going to come out regardless, he was not interested,” Mr Caridi told the inquest on Friday.
“It was appropriate to call CIRT … it’s their role,”
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“They are trained in dealing with armed offenders … they have an unmarked vehicle,” he said.
He said his “van plan” was a “classic textbook CIRT type of job”.
Mr Caridi has previously said he believes there were three missed chances where police could have stopped Gargasoulas before he mowed down city crowds, killing six and injuring 27 more.