Coronial
WAhome

Inquest into the Death of Ly Minh TONG

Deceased

Ly Minh TONG

Demographics

38y, male

Date of death

2018-11-22

Finding date

2021-11-29

Cause of death

Multiple gunshot wounds

AI-generated summary

A 38-year-old man with a history of methamphetamine use and mental health issues, subject to a violence restraining order, assaulted his father at home. The father reported to police that his son was armed with a knife, had threatened to kill his mother and police, and was holding his mother hostage. Police attended and when officers opened the bedroom door, the man ran toward them aggressively. Believing he was armed and posed an imminent lethal threat, an officer discharged his firearm, fatally wounding the man. Post-mortem toxicology confirmed significant methamphetamine intoxication; the man was found with only a pocket knife, not the knife reported by police. The coroner found the shooting was lawful self-defence but made recommendations regarding use of interpreters by police, family liaison procedures, and improved awareness of specialist police resources.

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

Specialties

psychiatrytoxicologyforensic medicine

Error types

communicationsystem

Drugs involved

methamphetamineclonazepamnitrazepamolanzapinequetiapine

Clinical conditions

methylamphetamine toxicitydrug-induced psychosisemotionally unstable personality disorder with borderline and antisocial traitspolysubstance use disordertype 2 diabeteschronic insomniahepatitis Cthrombocythaemiaevidence of old stroke

Contributing factors

  • Methamphetamine intoxication and drug-induced psychosis
  • History of violence and aggressive behaviour
  • Subject to violence restraining order
  • Misidentification: police told of knife being used when only pocket knife found
  • False radio broadcast regarding police vehicle location that precipitated immediate police response before TRG deployment
  • Language barrier: use of family member as interpreter instead of professional interpreter

Coroner's recommendations

  1. The Western Australian Police Force policy on the Use of Interpreters should be amended to provide that when a person requires the services of an interpreter, wherever possible, family members and/or friends of that person are not used as interpreters.
  2. Where it appears that the death of a person has been caused or contributed to by any action of a member of the Western Australian Police Force, then in order to ensure that communications between the Police and the deceased's family members are effective and timely, the Police should task a suitably experienced senior police officer to undertake early, regular and ongoing contact with the deceased's family members.
  3. In order to improve operational awareness within the Western Australian Police Force, information about the roles and capabilities of the Tactical Response Group and the Regional Operations Group should be disseminated to all general duties police officers.
Full text
Official source Archived copy

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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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