The biggest manhunt in Victoria in almost a decade involved the local community last Tuesday, when gunman Stanley Turvey evaded police and made his way from Shepparton to Yarrawonga.
The three-day manhunt, which spanned across northeast Victoria and southern NSW, came to an end on Wednesday, September 20 when 33-year-old Mr Turvey was fatally shot by police at a private residence in Tatura.
The ordeal began on Monday, September 18 when Turvey shot a gun into the air when police arrived at a Katandra West property for a firearm protection order check at around midday.
A police chase ensued with the police vehicle rolling on Creighton Road at Marungi soon afterwards. Mr Turvey later drove at police and crashed the vehicle.
From there, police allege Mr Turvey stopped at a random residence in Youanmite where he forced a man to drive him to Finley at gunpoint. The hostage was released in Finley and was not physically injured, police said.
Police arrived at the Finley home about 5.20pm on Monday and, after a five-hour stand-off, they forced open the door to the house only to discover Mr Turvey was not there.
The following morning, police responded to reports that a man armed with a firearm allegedly assaulted a woman at gunpoint in Witt St, Yarrawonga just before 10am on Tuesday, September 19, before threatening several construction workers at Sacred Heart College and stealing a dual cab hilux ute.
Sacred Heart College Principal Lew Nagle said as it is school holidays the school was working on skeleton staff but was forced into lockdown.
“Sacred Heart College Yarrawonga was locked down on Tuesday, September 19 following an armed intruder entering the Wexford campus (Witt street) building site,” Mr Nagle said.
“The intruder assaulted one of the contractors who sustained facial injuries. He then threatened and menaced contractors, stealing a vehicle in which he fled from the site.
“I was on site at the time and called 000 and commenced a lockdown of the college.
“Multiple uniformed and plain clothes police attended and declared a crime scene interviewing all witnesses.
“It was fortunate that no students were on the junior campus due to school holidays.
“Our concerns were mainly with the contractors from PBC Premier Building and Construction who handled a very challenging and dangerous situation extremely well.
“Emergency Management Protocols were engaged swiftly and effectively.”
The Chronicle also contacted PBC Premier Building and Construction for comment but did not hear before the paper went to print.
The manhunt then moved to Tatura on Tuesday afternoon, with hordes of police from Shepparton and Wangaratta commands as well as Melbourne, swooping on the town as the stolen ute was found in Fraser Street after Turvey had dumped it and left on foot.
Wednesday morning saw the hunt turn to Ardmona, near Shepparton, with a police helicopter flying over and a horde of police on the ground checking locations they believed he may be at.
At around 10.15am last Wednesday, the search came to an end as Special Operations Group police were confronted by Mr Turvey, who was allegedly armed, and they subsequently shot him.
First aid was provided and paramedics declared him deceased at the scene.
Eastern Region Acting Assistant Commissioner Karen Nyholm said that it was not the outcome police had wanted as they wanted to take him into safe custody but it is fair to say that they needed to do what it is to protect the public and themselves in that situation.
“The risk of the conduct, behaviour and serious violent offending, it was really important that police took Turvey into custody as soon as we could,” Act Asst Comm Nyholm said.
“I’d like to acknowledge the impact on those communities, both the individual victims that were involved, the witnesses that saw what took place and the broader community.”
Homicide Squad detectives will investigate the shooting with oversight by the Professional Standards Command, as per standard procedure.
The State Coroner will now investigate his death.