A man shot dead by a NSW police officer after he ran at him with two knives was not known to police, a coroner says, despite a “very unfortunate” claim to the contrary made by the assistant commissioner of the force immediately after the incident.
Steve Pampalian, 41, was shot three times by a police officer in the driveway of his home on a quiet suburban street in Sydney’s North Willoughby on 25 May 2023 after he had a psychotic episode.
He was the second of four vulnerable people – alongside Clare Nowland, Jesse Deacon and Krista Kach – who died in separate incidents in consecutive months in 2023 after interactions with the police. The cases have triggered increased scrutiny over how police respond to mental health incidents.
The assistant commissioner Leanne McCusker told reporters in the first press conference about the incident that Pampalian had been known to police. “Yes, he is known to police,” she said in response to a question. “But I would probably describe that as quite minimal.”
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But on Friday, at the long-awaited inquest into Pampalian’s death, Det Insp Trent Power confirmed that Pampalian had no criminal history and the comments were not correct.
“That’s very unfortunate,” the deputy state coroner, Kasey Pearce, said in response.
In the months after Pampalian was killed, the family had requested the police retract the statement, saying it made people think he was “a criminal”. In response to questions from Guardian Australia about their request in September 2023, the force said it was unable to comment because the shooting was subject to an ongoing investigation.
‘Gentle giant with a calm presence’
On Thursday, the inquest heard from assistant professor and forensic psychiatry expert Danny Sullivan, who concluded that Pampalian had probably slipped into a psychosis over the course of six months. Neither his tight-knit family nor doctor noticed anything out of the ordinary, nor had he ever experienced anything like it before.
Sullivan said Pampalian’s psychosis, which appeared to manifest in a religious delirium, was in no way connected to his anxiety disorder, for which he had taken a daily antidepressant since 2014.
On Friday Pampalian’s brother, Eddie, described him as a “gentle giant with a calm presence” and the “star in the eyes” of his two nieces. He knew Pampalian lived with anxiety, but said even at its worst, it only ever manifested as panic attacks.
At 10.30am on the morning he was shot, the inquest heard, Pampalian’s parents left the house. They said Pampalian appeared normal, and thought he was off work due to the flu.
The inquest heard that multiple neighbours called police on the day of Pampalian’s death after they saw him muttering to himself and chasing a woman up the road. One neighbour said he saw Pampalian try to get into one home on the street before entering another, which he didn’t realise was Pampalian’s own home.
The police thought they were attending an active break and enter and not a mental health incident. The inquest heard that the first responding officer, Const Jason Bryan, who retired after the incident, shot Pampalian three times after he suddenly appeared metres away and ran at him with two knives.
Sullivan told the inquest he couldn’t see “any way in which the police had the opportunity to engage in discussion or could seek to mollify his anxieties or distress”.
“I also believe there was no information that could have assisted police in approaching that situation,” he said.
Police have made number of changes
The inquest heard the force has changed several of its policies since 2023.
Police officers’ body-worn cameras now automatically turn on when an officer draws either their gun or Taser. The action will also switch on the camera of any officer standing within a 10-metre radius.
Bryan did not turn on his body-worn camera before he shot Pampalian, and told the inquest he did not have time to do so until after the incident.
The police have also increased the frequency of mental health training for officers, to annual face-to-face training.
“[The change] came as a result [of a] number of critical incident and mental health coronial matters,” Det Supt Kirsty Hales told the inquest.
On Friday, Pearce wept as the Pampalian family’s lawyer read out a statement on behalf of Eddie, who sat at the inquest all week.
“Many people have been affected by this tragedy, not just our family,” the statement said.
“Steve was loved deeply by his family and friends. He was known as a gentle giant with a calm presence and a warm sense of humour. Steve had a way of making people feel comfortable.”
The statement said he often spoke with one of his two nieces.
“After his passing, one of the hardest moments was hearing her cry and say he would never know all the new things that happen in her life now.”
