Carlisle shooting dad feared trouble

The father of a 38-year-old man killed by police in Carlisle this month has detailed the harrowing moments leading to his son’s death.

He has also called for a revamp of WA’s mental health system which he says repeatedly failed his drug-addicted son, Brendan.

John Lindsay could only watch on as Brendan was shot dead outside The Lunch Club Deli in Carlisle on Saturday, November 8.

Police opened fire when he started stabbing lunch bar worker and hostage Sheila Tran, 39, in the back.

Mr Lindsay told Seven News he had known there was trouble brewing before he and his son arrived at the Oats Street deli.

“It wasn’t my son because he actually questioned whether I was his father when I was driving around to the lunch bar,” Mr Lindsay told Seven News.

“He basically pulled my hair and said, ’You’re my dad, huh?’

“That’s when I thought to myself, ‘Well, I’m in trouble here.’”

WA HOSTAGE THOUGHT SHE WOULD DIE

Mr Lindsay eventually confronted his son at the lunch bar, telling him he felt unsafe.

“I’ve sort of stood up at that time and Brendan’s put his arm around me and said, ’You know I love you, dad,’” he said.

“And I said, ’Yeah, I love you too, son, but I’m not happy with some of the things you’re doing.’”

It was at that point that a police car drove past, prompting Mr Lindsay to signal a potential problem to the officer.

The officer immediately did a u-turn, which Mr Lindsay believes triggered his son’s violence.

“When Brendan saw the back end of the police car go past that might have set him off with everything else,” he said.

“He said, ’You’ve called the police, haven’t you?’ And I said, ’No, I haven’t.’

“He said, ’If that police car turns around there’s going to be hell to pay.’

“Of course, the rest is history.”

Mr Lindsay said he believed police could have handled the hostage situation differently, but he held no grudges because they did their best.

The father-of-four said he had talked his son out of a similar episode, involving himself and Brendan’s partner, only six months earlier.

“I was there, I was his father and I’ve talked him down before, but I was told to basically get out of the way,” he said.

“I would have liked to have been given the opportunity to at least talk to him.

“I know some of the key words that might actually get him thinking away from all that action around him.”

He said changes needed to be made to the way mental health facilities and hospitals dealt with drug users.

“Once the hospital established it was drug-related, well then, they just let them go,” Mr Lindsay said.

“That’s wrong. How can someone make a decision in the condition they’re in? They’ve got no hope.

“There should be some sort of database, where if you come up on the radar twice in a row or three times, you’re out.

“At the moment, they basically put them back out on the street. Well, what does that do?”

Mr Lindsay said his son was a kind, happy young boy who developed two distinct personas after he started using illicit drugs.