He was once an “adventurous and intelligent” boy – now the family of a man killed by police in Nowra are mourning both his death and the person he never became.
After an adult life filled with stints in various mental health and drug facilities and jumping from state to state, Alexander Pinnock, 34, pulled a gun on his doctor at a Junction Street medical facility.
Alexander Pinnock, who was shot dead by police during a confrontation in Nowra, has been remembered by his brother.Credit: Linkedin
While the staff and patients of the facility were able to escape unharmed, police confronted Pinnock, who picked up an officer’s ballistic shield, and shot him dead last Wednesday afternoon.
Now the shooting victim’s brother, Nick Pinnock, has told the Sydney Morning Herald that his family want the tragedy to serve as a lesson in what can happen when the mental health system fails.
“My first reaction was I just felt so sorry for the people in the medical centre … and secondly I really felt for the police who were put in that position to make the decision to take his life or not,” he said.
“We really grieve the little boy, the little Alex that we knew and grew up with, the boy who was well and full of potential. Like every family with children around, you want what’s best for them and you want them to reach their full potential. Alex was never able to reach that potential.”
Police at the scene in Nowra on Wednesday.Credit: Nine News
Nick Pinnock is six years younger than his brother Alexander, who first made news when he appeared in an A Current Affair program, where he was exposed as a fake lawyer.
The older Pinnock claimed he had legal qualifications from a Charlton State University, which offers fake degrees, and took money from clients to act on their behalf in legal proceedings.
Police opened fire outside the medical centre.
He told A Current Affair that he believed he was genuinely qualified.
His younger brother said the family had tried their best to support their loved one, but getting him to engage in consistent treatment was difficult.
“Alex was in and out of hospitals around the country, in and out of care facilities for substance abuse issues and for his schizophrenia – he was very intelligent and he was able to manipulate the system to bend to what he wanted,” Pinnock said.
“We definitely did the best we could, my mother is the best mum in the world and she tried her absolute hardest and never gave up trying to help him despite him hurting her, and his actions hurting her.”
Pinnock said it was easy for his brother to invent new backstories as he moved around the country, making it difficult for doctors to know the real background.
“The system probably needs to be more robust and there needs to be more communication,” he said.
At the time of his death Pinnock, who went by Alec Stuart while impersonating a lawyer, was serving a community corrections order that was not set to expire until October this year.
A critical incident team, led by the homicide squad, will investigate “all circumstances surrounding the incident”, police said.
Critical incidents are declared after serious injury or death to a person following certain acts by police, including the discharge of a firearm by an officer, and are subject to independent review.
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