Specialist police swarm on Birkdale, east of Brisbane, man in custody after standoff

A standoff in Birkdale lasting hours between police and a man with a firearm has ended with three arrests, as residents were plunged into lockdown.

A dramatic police incident has unfolded in Birkdale this morning as heavy armed cops plunged the suburb into lockdown. Picture: Today Show/Channel 9

Two men and a boy have been charged after residents in a suburb east of Brisbane were plunged into a lockdown where an exclusion zone was established by police.

Police were engaged in a standoff with a 40-year-old man who was armed with a firearm for hours on Saturday morning.

A dramatic police incident has unfolded in Birkdale this morning as heavy armed cops plunged the suburb into lockdown. Picture: Today Show/Channel 9

A Public Safety Preservation Act (PSPA) was declared and residents were urged to stay inside and lock the doors from south onto Daveson Rd, west onto Old Cleveland Rd, north of Fleet St and east to Abelia St at Birkdale.

The response included Police Negotiators, Special Emergency Response Team (SERT) and Explosive Ordnance Response Team (EORT).

At 4.53am, the 40-year-old man was taken into custody and the PSPA was revoked.

The incident occurred after PolAir began tracking an alleged stolen Volkswagen Amarook on Ipswich Road at Annerley just before midnight on Friday after it was involved in a number of alleged robberies on the Gold Coast.

The car was stolen from a Carter St, Northgate address on December 30.

Police successfully deployed Tyre Deflation Devices (TDD) on Compton Road, Underwood around 1.30am.

The car failed to stop and police with PolAir tracked the car at a low speed for about an hour before it came to a complete stop on Old Cleveland Road East at Capalaba.

A 40-year-old driver and his two passengers, a 35-year-old man and a 15-year-old boy fled the scene on foot. The passengers were apprehended a short time later. While the 40-year-old man was taken into custody after the standoff.

Police allege the 40-year-old man armed himself with a firearm before initiating a standoff with police which lasted for hours.

The stolen blue Volkswagen Amarok tracked by police. Picture: Contributed

Birkdale residents Kulwinder Singh and Manjit Kaur said they were quickly ushered inside by police when they went to check in on their neighbours.

“One of my neighbours called in a panic because they thought something was wrong. So we went to go see them but we were immediately told to get back inside by police,” Ms Singh said.

“I opened the door and there were police cars everywhere I couldn’t believe it.

“It was quite scary but we couldn’t obviously see anything because we were told to stay indoors.

“Our children were asleep and we definitely did not want to wake them and scare them. We have caught up on our sleep now - we are just glad they guy was caught.”

A dramatic police incident has unfolded in Birkdale this morning as heavy armed cops plunged the suburb into lockdown. Picture: Today Show/Channel 9

Another resident Louise Pack said she had been blissfully unaware of the incident on her street until she opened up Facebook.

“It is pretty shocking to find that is what has happened over night - Birkdale is such a lovely neighbourhood so it is a shame to hear these things are happening,” Ms Pack said.

“But you know this seems to be happening a lot now.

“I am just glad it is all over and done with.”

Another local, who wished to remain anonymous, said they heard lots of noise outside.

“There was heaps of language to and fro but I didn’t see any of it happen,” the resident said.

“You could hear all the police cars driving past and heaps of yelling and swearing.

“It is a bit shocking to have this happen around here.”

A 40-year-old Roseneath man was charged with 19 offences including three counts of receiving tainted property, two counts of unlawful possession of weapons in public place, and one count each of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, unlawful use of a motor vehicle, dangerous conduct with weapon, serious assault police officer whilst armed with a weapon, possessing dangerous drugs, publishing or possessing instructions for producing dangerous drugs, possess utensils or pipes for use, fail to properly dispose of needle/syringe, authority required to possess explosives, possess knife in a public place, possess by night instrument of house breaking, unlawful possession of suspected stolen property, possession of counterfeiting instrument, and breach of bail condition.

He is set to appear at Cleveland Magistrates Court on Monday, January 20.

A 35-year-old Amamoor man was charged with seven offences including two counts of possessing dangerous drugs, and one count each of unlawful use of motor vehicle, serious assault of a police officer, unlawful possession of a short firearm in public, possessing relevant substances, and unlawful possession of suspected stolen property.

He is due to appear at Cleveland Magistrates Court on Monday, January 20.

A 15-year-old Logan Village boy was charged with one count each of endangering the safe use of vehicle by throwing an object, and unlawful use of motor vehicle at night and pretended to be armed in company.

He is due to appear at Cleveland Childrens Court on January 24.

Originally published as Specialist police swarm on Birkdale, east of Brisbane, man in custody after standoff