A man has been found dead in a Townsville home. Source: Highway Patrol Images, Wikimedia Commons
An overnight emergency has been revoked after a man was found dead in a home in the Townsville suburb of Kirwan this morning.
Gunshots were fired last night at nearby houses as well as a car and responding police vehicles.
Police made an emergency declaration at around 9pm Sunday night, but this was revoked at 6:45am Monday.
Police say they entered the dwelling and found the body of a 50-year-old man. A crime scene has now been officially declared. Nobody else has been injured.
Negotiators were at the scene last night talking to the male offender through a microphone speaker, and a police drone hovered over the cordoned-off area near Aird and Marchwood avenues.
At least a dozen police units remained at the scene on Monday morning.
Acting Chief Superintendent Chris Lawson said, “There is going to be mental anguish associated with that so we will have all of our support helping those officers deal with the fallout of that incident.”
“It’s not something you expect when you turn up to work each night but it is something that can happen and we’re quite well trained.”
Acting Chief Superintendent Lawson also said that this incident had put members of the community in danger, saying, “It was more than a threat, there were actually shots fired last night so we made sure we locked down the place as best as we could.”
Neighbours reported hearing a firearm being cocked, however, police have not specified what weapons were used.
“We haven’t been able to process the scene entirely so we are not going to surmise on what may or may not have been used last night,” Acting Chief Superintendent Lawson said.
“That will be part of our investigation as we move forward and will be provided to the coroner in a report.”
