Elite police unit twice refused to arrest Gargasoulas before massacre
An elite police unit twice refused to arrest Dimitrious Gargasoulas about nine hours before he allegedly mowed down dozens of pedestrians in Bourke Street, despite urgent warnings that he was probably armed and a serious danger to the public.
The Age can reveal the Critical Incident Response Team denied patrol officers’ requests for it to intercept Mr Gargasoulas soon after he was identified as the suspect in a potentially fatal machete attack the morning of the Bourke Street attack.
Six people were killed and dozens more injured after the massacre began about 1.40pm on January 20, 2017.
Leaked documents show the specialist police team was asked to arrest Mr Gargasoulas nine hours earlier, about 4.30am.
Senior police have told The Age that officers were crippled by indecision and unwilling to take risks following the force’s introduction of the “zero harm” car pursuit policy in 2015 and repeated changes since.
Police had begun searching for Mr Gargasoulas at 2.20am, about an hour after he allegedly stabbed his brother, Angelo, multiple times during an argument at the Windsor housing commission flats.
Angelo had been rushed to The Alfred Hospital and was expected to die from his wounds.
Police alerts sent during the manhunt warned that officers believed Mr Gargasoulas posed a serious risk to the public, describing him as confrontational, prone to extreme violence and having a history of provoking high-speed car chases.
Mr Gargasoulas was already facing charges in relation to an assault and two high-speed chases in stolen cars in November 2016 and January 2017, according to court records.
At 4.30am, police investigating the stabbing asked the Critical Incident Response Team (CIRT) to arrest Mr Gargasoulas.
CIRT is a specialised team of heavily armed officers that responds to potentially high-risk incidents involving dangerous or armed offenders considered beyond the capabilities of regular police.
But documents show the request was refused by the senior CIRT officer on duty because local police were unable to confirm Mr Gargasoulas was armed.
Patrol officers told CIRT Mr Gargasoulas should be considered armed as no weapon had been recovered at the scene of the assault on his brother.
At 4.40am, police traced Mr Gargasoulas’ phone to Greeves Street, St Kilda, where he appeared to be parked.
Officers made a formal request for CIRT to use their unmarked vehicles to help box in Mr Gargasoulas’ car because it was alleged he had sped off dangerously when approached by a marked police car on previous occasions.
“As soon as he’d see a marked police car or van he’d take off. [Mr Gargasoulas would drive on] the wrong side of the road at high speeds ...” a source familiar with the investigation said.
CIRT again denied the request because police could not be sure Mr Gargasoulas was armed. It also said the team was not responsible for vehicle intercepts and that it could not perform an arrest unless the target was already contained within a police cordon.
The Age is aware CIRT has previously intercepted vehicles, including at least one in the months before the Bourke Street massacre.
The unit missed another opportunity to apprehend Mr Gargasoulas about 5am, when he stopped at Elsternwick McDonald’s.
The night team leader’s refusal to intervene before dawn, when the risks of collateral damage were at a minimum, is understood to have later caused ructions in the CIRT leadership.
The CIRT team was ultimately responsible for ending the Bourke Street rampage by shooting Mr Gargasoulas near William Street at 1.50pm.
Until now, scrutiny of the police response has focused on the hours immediately before the rampage, when Mr Gargasoulas traversed Melbourne in a stolen Commodore.
Police have claimed it was too dangerous to intercept Mr Gargasoulas during a four-hour on-and-off chase through the inner city and western suburbs because of the risk posed to the public by his erratic driving.
Police missed or aborted several other opportunities to stop Mr Gargasoulas at 8.04am, when he was seen outside the scene of the earlier stabbing in Windsor; 10am when his car was stuck in traffic in South Yarra; 11.30am on Clarendon Street in Southbank; 11.45am when his vehicle was surrounded by police on the Bolte Bridge after he stopped to let out a passenger; and noon when he parked in Yarraville for almost an hour before entering the CBD at 1.40pm.
Victoria Police said it could not discuss CIRT's function for operational reasons and refused to comment further because Mr Gargasoulas’ case is before the courts.
Mr Gargasoulas, who will face a “fitness investigation” before a jury next week to determine his mental competency, has been charged with six counts of murder and 28 counts of attempted murder.
Prosecutor Andrew Tinney, SC, told the Supreme Court last month that Mr Gargasoulas had been assessed by four mental health experts, who all diagnosed him with schizophrenia.
Mr Tinney conceded there was a “real and substantial question about the accused’s fitness to stand trial”.
But he said the prosecution would challenge Mr Gargasoulas’ defence on the basis of two of its own expert witnesses who had opposing views on his fitness to stand trial.
chouston@fairfaxmedia.com.au