Man killed in home invasion was elite weightlifting competitor

Man who died in suspected home invasion identified as a personal trainer and inter­national weightlifting competitor.

A Sydney man who died in a suspected home invasion on Sunday has been identified as an inter­national weightlifting competitor, further deepening the mystery of how he ended up dying in a stranger’s loungeroom.

“We really don’t know what the cause of death is; we are not even confident he was there to commit a crime,” Detective Chief Inspector Shane Woolbank of Camden Police told The Aus­tralian yesterday.

Bradley Soper, a 35-year-old personal trainer, was confronted by a home owner, 44-year-old Johan Schwartz, who found Soper behind a couch in the living room of his Harrington Park home in Sydney’s southwest about 7.30am on Sunday.

The Daily Telegraph reports that Mr Schwartz detained him using a chokehold.

Police say the two men grappled briefly before Mr Soper collapsed and died, despite frantic efforts to help by Mr Schwartz’s wife, who called in neighbours to try to revive him with CPR.

Bradley Soper. Picture: Instagram

Friends of Mr Soper were shocked by the news he had died, telling The Daily Telegraph yesterday his behaviour was completely “out of character”.

Peter Tsikas, one of Mr Soper’s friends from the Narellan gym where he worked and trained, said: “I’m pretty much in deep shock, to be honest with you… still trying to get my head around it. He genuinely cared about other people’s health and wellness.”

Mr Schwartz, a business analyst, told police he was woken by dogs barking to find a “muscular” looking man with tattoos metres from where his wife and baby slept.

He was questioned by Narellan police for more than 10 hours on Sunday before he was released “pending further inquiries’’.

Mr Soper’s Instagram account is filled with motivational videos on high-performance training, including his last podium finish on December 3 at the Strongman Champions League event in Goa, India.

“That’s a wrap for the year, ­settling for 3rd,” he wrote.

Friends told the Daily Telegraph Mr Soper had problems but seemed to be in good spirits in the days before his death. He recently went through a relationship breakdown and had been hospitalised for kidney failure. The ABC reports he was struggling for money and was also battling a cocaine addiction.

Inspector Woolbank refused to comment on other lines of inquiry, including whether Mr Soper may have been affected by anabolic steroids, widely used by weightlifters.

He said Mr Schwartz was clearly “affected” by the man’s death. A door knock on the Schwartz residence last night went unanswered.

The community where the events took place is patrolled by private security, but a security guard told The Australian the ­patrol car was on other streets when the incident occurred.

An autopsy will be held this week in the hope of determining the cause of death.

It will include critical toxicology testing for any drugs that may have been in Mr Soper’s system. Police are also investigating reports that a man fitting Mr Soper’s description was seen at about 3am on Sunday, 4½ hours before he died.

One of Mr Schwartz’s neighbours, Domenic Lombardo, reported he had seen Mr Soper run through a nearby building site around the time of the home invasion “breathing heavy and mumbling to himself”’.

NSW Law Society president Elizabeth Espinosa said NSW law allowed a person to defend their home using “reasonable force” to protect themselves, their family and their property, providing there were reasonable grounds to believe force was necessary.

Additional reporting: Elias Visontay