A man shot by a policeman outside a western Sydney police station may have earlier stolen pistols from a gun club and threatened patrons at a tavern.
Police say the gunman, believed to be in his 40s, waved two pistols above his head before firing a shot in the air outside Mount Druitt police station shortly after 3pm (AEDT) on Saturday.
A police officer responded with a single shot, wounding the gunman who was admitted to Westmead Hospital in a serious condition.
Assistant Commissioner Denis Clifford said the police investigation had focused on whether the shooting outside the police station was linked to an earlier alleged theft of guns from a North St Marys gun club and an incident at a nearby Blackett tavern.
“The critical incident investigation team will be looking to see what, if any connection, there is between the allegation of a robbery of firearms from a carpark at the gun club and an incident where people were threatened in the carpark of a tavern in Blackett and then the shooting here,” he told reporters.
Witnesses told Macquarie Radio the gunman fired a pistol into the air before police shot him in the stomach.
“He stopped his car, gets out with two handguns,” a man said.
“At first he’s just waving them around, then he fires one off in the air, then the coppers pretty much shot him a second later.”
Four hours after the incident, police retrieved two pistols from the kerb outside the police station on Luxford Road.
A blood-stained shirt, blood stains on the road and a shell casing were visible next to a police car.
About 100 metres from Westfield’s busy Mt Druitt shopping centre, a car – believed to belong to the wounded man – remained inside an exclusion zone on the normally busy road.
The driver’s door and boot of the late-model Mitsubishi Lancer sedan remained open while forensic experts collected evidence as part of critical incident investigation.
Onlookers watched police from a nearby car park, in the vicinity of a restaurant, offices and multiple-level home units.
About 300 metres of Luxford Rd was still cordoned off as darkness closed in.
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