Police shooting at Sydney’s Central station ‘justified’, inquest finds

Seconds after arriving at Central Station to find a man armed with scissors, police were forced to make a fatal but “justified” decision.

Police had little to no time to negotiate with a psychotic man who ran at them with scissors before they shot him dead at Sydney’s Central station, a coroner has found.

Danukul “Dan” Mokmool was killed after he charged at Senior Constable Frederick Tse with a pair of scissors in each hand outside a florist on Eddy Ave on July 26, 2017.

Seconds earlier the 30-year-old had screamed out “shoot me, shoot me in the head”.

Multiple bystanders called triple-0 after seeing Mr Mokmool enter the flower shop about 6.35pm and hold a piece of broken glass to the throat of longtime owner Emmanuel Theoharis.

Four police officers, including two plainclothes officers, responded and drew their firearms. None of them had a Taser.

“Some eyewitnesses thought he was frightening, others thought he was disturbed,” Deputy State Coroner Elaine Truscott said in her findings delivered on Monday.

Danukul ‘Dan’ Mokmool (left) with half-brother Charlie Huynh and mum Supaporn Chompoo. Mr Mokmool was shot dead by police at Central station in 2017.

Mr Mokmool had a history of believing his family members were going to harm him and had asked his younger half-brother while putting the bins out that day, “Why do you want to kill me?”

“They had a metal iron bar and plastic bags ready to chop me up and kill me,” Mr Mokmool told an emergency services operator three hours before he died, having called in fear of his life.

Ms Truscott said Mr Mokmool was experiencing a psychotic episode.

“The police had little to no time to assess, contain and negotiate with Mr Mokmool, and his choice to run out at the police after just 20 seconds denied the police that opportunity,” she said.

One officer tried unsuccessfully to subdue Mr Mokmool with OC or capsicum spray before four shots were fired.

Florist Manuel Theoharis was threatened by Mr Mokmool, who held a broken bottle to Mr Theoharis’ throat. Picture: Toby Zerna

The coroner said Sen-Constable Tse had reasonable cause to believe Mr Mokmool was going to stab him, as did his colleague Sen-Constable Jakob Harrison, and “the discharge of their firearms was to stop him from doing so and accordingly was justified”.

Ms Truscott accepted that a different outcome “may not or even could not” have been achieved if a Taser had been used on Mr Mokmool given the lack of time and lack of access to him for effective incapacitation.

But she said a Taser was not an available tactical option when it could or should have been due to non-adherence to police policy.

“It seems the officers thought that if they did not have a Taser issued then there was no requirement to wear one,” she said.

Ms Truscott made a single recommendation to the NSW Police commissioner that consideration be given to amending policy so all uniformed frontline officers are required to carry a Taser unless they have good reason not to.

Mr Mokmool is remembered by his family as a kind and gentle son and brother.