Police shot man nine times while he strangled his sister

Warning: graphic content

Justin James Filardo was shot nine times before he finally stopped strangling his sister, who was lying on her bed with a partially severed arm.

When police arrived at the siblings’ home in Melbourne’s outer east, they found Justin, 45, leaning over his sister, 48-year-old Bianca Filardo, with his hands around her neck.

Officers discharged their Tasers before one officer pulled out their gun to save Bianca. But it wasn’t until the eighth and ninth shot into Justin that he was stopped.

On Tuesday, the Coroner’s Court of Victoria heard that a total of 10 shots were fired inside Bianca’s bedroom as her mother and other brother gathered outside the home.

Counsel assisting the coroner, Jessika Syrjanen, said that at 5.32pm on July 30, the siblings’ mother called Triple-0 to report her son, who lived with schizophrenia, was attacking her daughter after hearing screaming and thumping inside a bedroom of the family’s home on Warburton Highway in Yarra Junction.

Syrjanen said the mother told authorities her son had a sword under his bed and had not been taking his medication recently.

Two officers, a leading senior constable and a senior constable, arrived to find the mother shaken and unsure if her daughter was still alive.

The officers climbed the stairs to Bianca’s bedroom, one holding capsicum spray and the other a Taser.

When they entered the room, Syrjanen said the officers found Bianca lying on the bed with a significant arm injury and the limb twisted behind her back.

The coroner was told that Justin was leaning over Bianca with his hands around her neck and possibly her mouth, with blood visible on clothing and carpet on the floor.

“Both members believed Mr Filardo was trying to kill his sister,” Syrjanen said.

The coroner was told one officer told the attacker to “get down, get down on the floor”.

Both officers then discharged their Tasers twice with no effect and Filardo’s hands remained around his sister’s neck.

“The senior constable dropped the Taser and drew his firearm. He pointed it at Mr Filardo and said ‘let it go’ several times,” Syrjanen said.

Syrjanen said that after firing seven shots, Justin continued to hold onto his sister’s neck.

She said it wasn’t until he was shot an eighth and ninth time that he let go, falling onto the bed.

The senior constable then rendered aid to Bianca, who was conscious and able to give police her name.

Paramedics arrived soon after, at 6pm, and Bianca was airlifted to hospital. Justin was declared dead at the scene.

Coroner David Ryan said he had viewed the officers’ body-worn camera footage and that it would have been an extremely challenging and distressing scene for responding police and family members.

Speaking at the time of the shooting, Assistant Commissioner Russell Barrett said: “It’s every police officer’s nightmare. Both police officers are distressed. It’s not what they come to work to do.”

The court did not hear Bianca’s current condition.

An inquest is expected to be held at a later date.

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