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Lewis, Daniel Patrick

Deceased

Daniel Patrick Lewis

Demographics

36y, male

Date of death

2018-08-31

Finding date

2022-01-18

Cause of death

Gunshot wounds to the chest and abdomen

AI-generated summary

Daniel Lewis, aged 36, died from gunshot wounds after police responded to a domestic violence call. Lewis had a history of brain injury from age 11, substance abuse, mental health issues including PTSD and drug-induced psychosis, and was prescribed antipsychotics. On the day of death, he consumed alcohol and became violent toward his partner and her son. When police arrived, Lewis claimed to have a shotgun, emerged armed with three knives, and threw one at officers. After a failed Taser attempt, a police officer shot him. The coroner found the shooting lawful and justified. While systemic issues were identified (police communication delays about warnings, missing resuscitation mask), these were not outcome-changing. Key clinical lessons: recognition of deteriorating mental health despite recent psychiatric intervention, substance abuse triggers for violent behaviour, and the challenge of managing acute crises in patients with brain injury and polysubstance use.

AI-generated summary and tagging — may contain inaccuracies; refer to original finding for legal purposes.

Contributing factors

  • Acute alcohol intoxication
  • Substance abuse (cannabis, methamphetamine)
  • Untreated/poorly managed mental health conditions (PTSD, depression, drug-induced psychosis)
  • Acquired brain injury with impaired executive function
  • Non-compliance with psychiatric treatment
  • Domestic violence incident
  • Suicidal ideation and hopelessness expressed on day of death
Full text

Source and disclaimer

This page reproduces or summarises information from publicly available findings published by Australian coroners' courts. Coronial is an independent educational resource and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of any coronial court or government body.

Content may be incomplete, reformatted, or summarised. All court orders for redaction and non-publication are respected; documents with technically defective redaction have been excluded from the database entirely. Always refer to the original court publication for the authoritative record.

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