A man wielding a homemade pistol and threatening police officers was fatally shot in an incident that unfolded in Ipswich, west of Brisbane. The coroner’s inquest revealed that Tjay Robert Doeblien, 27, died from a gunshot wound to the chest inflicted by a police officer during the confrontation in May 2022.
The police were called to the scene following reports of a disturbance involving a man pursuing a woman with a stick. As the inquest commenced on Wednesday, Coroner Terry Ryan reviewed the circumstances leading to the shooting.
Senior Constable John Johnstone, who was involved in the incident, testified that he felt compelled to use his service rifle after Doeblien pointed a firearm at the officers, coupled with his verbal threats. Johnstone perceived an immediate danger to the lives of the police present.
“I determined there was an imminent threat that needed to be neutralized,” Johnstone recounted. “I fired a single shot, reassessed the situation as he remained standing in the same threatening posture. My evaluation indicated the risk persisted, so I fired once more before observing him fall.”
“I decided to attempt to stop that imminent threat. I pressed the trigger once, opened fire once and reattained a sight picture,” Johnstone said.
“He was still standing in the same way. That meant my risk assessment hadn’t changed. I pressed the trigger again and ceased firing. I observed him fall.”
Doeblien’s mother, Patricia Roach, and family members were in court for the inquest and saw body-worn camera video of police trying to negotiate.
“You put the gun down, we lower our firearms. That’s a fair deal,” one officer said in the footage.
Doeblien had a crude “zip gun” he made from a pipe, metal plates and a wooden grip covered in tape and painted silver, a police ethical standards investigation found.
“It had no firing pin. It was incapable of being fired. It looked like it was real,” Detective Senior Sergeant Tara O’Donnell testified.
It seemed Doeblien had a silver handgun in his hand, Johnstone testified.
Doeblien was walking around, pointing a gun at himself and police and told officers “there’s one round in here and one of you is going down”, Senior Constable Darien Gough said.
A person pointing a gun at officers 25 metres away was determined to be an unacceptable risk of death or serious harm to police or the public, Ryan heard.
“He made a direct threat that one of us was going down. I interpreted it as one of us would be shot and killed,” Gough said.
(9News)
Doeblien was repeatedly told to put his gun down and did not comply, but yelled at police his gun did not have a firing pin.
Gough said he still prepared to use lethal force with his police-issue pistol.
“It doesn’t change the risks. We didn’t have that establishment of trust,” he said.
Gough saying “he’s got one bullet. If he points it, we have just got to deploy, mate” did not act as encouragement to shoot, Johnstone testified.
“I believed (Doeblien) had the capability of killing or seriously injuring any of us present,” Johnstone said.
“When he used both hands to point in our direction, I thought he was imminently going to shoot that firearm and possibly cause death or grievous bodily harm.”
The inquest is due to conclude on Thursday.
