Police shoot dead former Comancheros bikie associate in dramatic confrontation
A former associate of the Comancheros bikie gang has been shot dead by police during a dramatic confrontation in Brisbane's bayside suburbs.
Armed with a knife, Liam Scorsese, 31, tried to break in to a Wakerley home in Goulburn Street, around 9.50am on Sunday.
Police said officers responded to a triple-0 call from the residents reporting the man was armed with a knife and in an "enraged" state.
An associate of the Comancheros bikie gang Liam Scorsese was shot dead by police during a dramatic confrontation in Brisbane's bayside suburbs. Source: Ashkan Tai/ Instagram
When police arrived, Scorsese turned on two officers.
Initial reports indicate officers told him to "put the weapon down", but he didn't.
Instead, Scorsese yelled at the officers: "Shoot me, shoot me, shoot me."
Scorsese was dead by the time he arrived at the Princess Alexandra Hospital. Source: AAP
They fired a Taser but it didn't stop him, Acting Chief Superintendent Mick Nyland told reporters on Sunday afternoon.
“After utilising the Taser the police retreated away from the offender.
“The offender has followed with a knife threatening police.”
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Supt Nyland said officers were left with little choice and opened fire, hitting Scorsese twice - one shot to the neck, and the other to the chest.
"Police were in fear of their lives at the time. The male person has threatened police," South Brisbane District Acting Chief Superintendent Mick Niland told reporters Sunday afternoon.
A suburban Brisbane street is taped off as police pull apart a crime scene. Source: AAP
Scorsese's lawyer, Ashkan Tai, said his client not a member of any outlaw motorcycle club and was working to get his life in order.
"He had enrolled in a barber's course. Just because he got into one incident with the Comancheros, police label him. He wasn't a bikie, he was just a man that was tattooed and had some bad friends," Mr Tai told The Courier-Mail.
"His family are obviously extremely distressed ... I would hope Ethical Standards investigate fairly the question of how a man can be shot dead by police, in suburbia, in the early hours, on a Sunday morning."
Residents described the scenes as like something out of a movie.
“There were some shouts – sort of hysterical shouting and two pops,” neighbour Paula Metcalf told 7 News.
Police and a nearby neighbour also assisted with CPR, but Scorsese was dead by the time he arrived at the Princess Alexandra Hospital.
Before Sunday's shooting, Scoresese had a criminal record and had spent time in jail last year for two vicious assaults.
In 2016 he attacked a Gold Coast bus driver, who he dragged out of the bus and hit several times.
Also that year he was charged with assaulting paramedics and police who came to help him, after stabbing himself and crashing his car at Broadbeach Waters.
In 2016 he attacked a Gold Coast bus driver, who he dragged out of the bus and hit several times. Source: Gold Coast City Council
Forensics on Sunday collected evidence as the two "traumatised" officers gave their statements.
The Queensland Police Service's Ethical Standards Command has launched an investigation into the incident, with the assistance of the Crime and Corruption Commission.
"Police today acted courageously and professionally – and in a situation police never want to put themselves in,” Ian Leavers of the Queensland Police Union told 7 News.
