Inala shooting: Man shot dead by police was missing girlfriend, neighbours say

The man who was shot dead by police outside an Inala unit block had told officers he would not shoot them during a tense four-hour stand-off, witnesses have said.

Officers arrived at the property in Brisbane's south-west about midday on Monday hoping to speak to the 42-year-old man about an unrelated matter.

They found him holed up in his car in the carpark, and he held heavily-armed police at bay for hours.

The man emerged about 4:00pm holding what appeared to be a handgun and police opened fire, letting off several shots.

Two neighbours have recounted the ordeal, saying they felt for the man who had been having difficulties with his girlfriend.

They said the man had been leaning back in the seat of his car looking "floppy". His eyes were darting in front and behind him, neighbour Shelly Redding said.

He made himself two cigarettes and told police he had dropped his lighter and warned them he was going to pick it up.

"He was not quiet with it," Ms Redding said.

Wearing white sunglasses on his head, jeans and a red shirt, he would at times grab the handle of his handgun.

Nine pistols and three rifles were aimed at him during the stand-off. He was boxed in by a car, letterboxes and an armoured police car.

After hours of negotiations, an officer rolled him a drink, at which point the man said he would not hurt them.

"He said, 'you can bring it down, I'm not going to shoot anyone'," Ms Redding said.

Neighbour Nigel Butkowski confirmed what happened during the incident.

"At that particular moment I knew that the man was of a reasonably level head," he said.

"I called out to him, he could see me looking out the window, I shook my head and said 'don't do anything stupid'.

"He was well aware I was watching him, I made contact a few times when I was upstairs.

"There was one particular time there when I felt he wasn't dangerous.

"Regardless of circumstances, he was hurting, and just seeing it and knowing now that the man I was looking at, I'm never going to see [again]."

Police tried to reach his girlfriend: neighbours

Officers tried to coax the man out of the car for several hours and were trying to reach his girlfriend on the phone, Ms Redding and Mr Butkowski said.

When questioned by police, he was answering back clearly and fluently.

"There was a lot of quiet, a lot of nothingness, just policemen with their guns drawn," Ms Redding said.

"The whole time, three hours, holding it in the same position."

Mr Butkowski, who had seen the man in the neighbourhood before, overheard the man talking to officers.

"He told them that he had some kind of altercation with his partner, and he was missing his partner and the daughter," Mr Butkowski said.

"They tried to ring them on the phone, I saw the whole thing, but she didn't pick up."

Police Union says officers acted in self-defence

The officers who fired at the man were acting in self-defence, the Police Union has said.

Union president Ian Leavers said officers did not know whether the man's gun was real and they had to make a split-second decision.

"As we now know a firearm was pointed at police who, in self-defence, have used their firearms to protect their lives," he said.

"The police have had no option but to defend their lives and they have done that and obviously that's an allegation that's before the coroner now.

"But that is the difficult and dangerous nature of police work and things as we know happen so quickly you have to make instantaneous decisions, there are no other options."

Police and paramedics performed CPR on the man, but he died of his injuries.