“When Cops Kill, Who Polices the Police”: The Gilberts on the Killing of Their Son Luke

Shot Dead is a recently published account of the police killing of 24-year-old Luke Gilbert, who was shot by two officers early on 1 October 2022. Luke’s mother, Nicola Gilbert wrote the book, which she asserts was required following the skewed version of events that the Queensland Police Service furnished the media and the inquest with, in order to protect those officers who shot their son.

The incident occurred just after midnight, following Luke and his girlfriend having been out drinking at Queensland’s Airlie Beach. Testimony has Luke storming out of a bar by himself, then bumping into the shoulder of QPS senior constable David Murray, as he walked past, and after Luke apologised, the exchange appeared to draw the ire of constable Liam Forster, who was out on patrolling as well.

Over the next 18 seconds, Gilbert showed his pen knife after a question about it and the officers then shot him dead. Forster shot three bullets and Murray shot one. Three bullets hit Luke. The officers then failed to apply first aid adequately. The rendering of events at the inquest, however, led to an October 2024 finding that Luke had prompted his death, and no penalisation of the officers was necessary.

According to Darren Gilbert, Luke’s father, there’s more to the story than what was given credence during the coronial hearings, and, as he explained in February last year, Luke’s girlfriend and the officer who took offence when Luke brushed past his partner and fired four shots on him had been acquainted prior to that evening. However, the woman was dropped from testifying at the inquest.

Taking care of their own

Shot Dead: When Cops Kill, Who Polices the Police provides an account of the night that Luke’s life was taken, and it further details how Darren and Nicola were met with obfuscation and denials when seeking more details about the circumstances of their son’s death from the Queensland Police Service, which also happens to be the employer of the two men who shot and killed Luke.

Darren points to the 1960s book Police Killings in Australia, which details a “pattern of systemic abuse of rules relating to the deaths caused in arrests”, with the main issue leading to this being law enforcement agencies investigating their own officers following shootings, and regardless of how suspect circumstances are, an internal inquiry usually absolves them of criminal offence.

Luke’s parents are now campaigning to see Luke’s Law established, which would comprise of an independent national body that would be charged with investigating police killings in a nonbiased manner. Such a body would be welcomed by justice campaigners continentwide as the process of police investigating police, especially critical incidents, has long been critiqued.

Sydney Criminal Lawyers spoke to Luke’s parents, Darren and Nicola Gilbert, about having to set the record straight, as they considered the version propagated by the authorities to be skewed in order to protect the officers involved, the ongoing system that permits officers to get away with killing civilians with no accountability and the impact the pair hoped to achieve by publishing their account.

The book Shot Dead: When Cops Kill, Who Polices the Police has just been released on Amazon. It is written by Nicola, Luke’s mother, and it gives an account of the circumstances surrounding his death on 1 October 2022 at the hands of two Queensland Police Service officers.

Darren and Nicola, why was it necessary to write this account of your son’s death? What would you say you further learnt about it in producing this book?

We have been fighting for three years to give our son a voice, and we have been silenced every step of the way. We feel that writing the book was the only way to be heard, it is our way of documenting the brutal process we have been forced to endure.

Even now, there are reports in the media which are false and have not been changed despite it being proven to be false.

One thing is clear to us now that we have put it all together, this miscarriage of justice is the result of a coordinated and deliberate effort by those in authority to protect public trust in them.

There are too many injustices for it to not be on purpose and anyone reading the book will see it simply does not pass the pub test.

We last spoke about the killing of your 24-year-old son Luke in February 2024. His life was taken in the resort town of Airlie Beach on the Whitsundays in October 2022.

Queensland police constable Liam Forster shot four bullets at your son, and senior constable David Murray shot one. Three shots hit Luke, as he stood on Shute Harbour Road, and officers failed to then delivery adequate first aid.

What is it about the circumstances of the lethal incident that are problematic?

The most problematic aspect of the case is the denial and suppression of evidence, most importantly the alleged romantic rejection of Constable Forster by Luke’s girlfriend, whom he watched having breakfast with Luke in a local cafe hours before provoking, harassing, threatening and killing our son.

The police investigation has produced falsified and forged documents and tampered CCTV, which indicates a consciousness of guilt and potentially a premeditated motive.

When the courts are only as good as the information provided to them and that comes from the organisation responsible for the death, there was never going to be a fair and just outcome and that is evident when the coroner blamed our son for his own death.

Queensland deputy state coroner Stephanie Gallagher handed down the findings of the inquest into Luke’s death on 11 October 2024.

Suggestions were made that the incident might be a case of “victim-precipitated homicide”, and a recommendation was made that the Australian New Zealand Policing Advisory Agency conduct research into this phenomenon.

You’ve suggested the inquest findings warranted the writing of Shot Dead. Can you talk about what you thought of the inquest and its findings?

The inquest was a magic show full of misdirection and false information, and the findings are nothing more than a piece of fiction, so we decided we had to write the truth.

The 18 second interaction that resulted in our son being brutally shot dead in the street has been misreported in the findings.

The so-called expert testimony relied on a fraction of the available evidence with no family involvement or independent corroboration, and false witness statements were heavily relied on without any cross examination and without any witness for Luke, after they removed Luke’s girlfriend from testifying without our knowledge.

Yes, let that sink in, the only person who spent the morning, afternoon and night with Luke and was the reason Luke travelled to Airlie Beach instead of going to work and camping that night was removed from the inquest witness list at the last minute, and we didn’t find out until we flew to Cairns for the inquest.

We are appealing what we believe is fraudulent findings but that is another legal process that is time consuming and has been difficult to get legal assistance for.

The title of Shot Dead contains a question about investigations following incidents involving police officers killing civilians.

Following the writing of the book, how would you answer the question, “when cops kill, who polices the police?”

Our answer is that we do. We have been forced to investigate our son’s killing and the investigation itself, and we’ve uncovered what we believe to be evidence of criminal activity and corruption, not just by police but by other government agencies.

We have not had the luxury of grief. We have had to fight for every piece of information, and there’s evidence we are still fighting to get when we should have been given this before the inquest as full disclosure.

The entire file of street CCTV, including Luke’s last walk up the street before coming face-to-face with his killers, which has been edited to start after he’d allegedly walked past two other police officers and has been digitally altered

We don’t have access to the data the police extracted from Luke’s mobile phone, which they claim has no “evidentiary value”.

And there’s the evidence in the prosecution of constable Bryce Collins, who was charged and sentenced for crimes against our son at the time of his death, which we were never told about and still do not know more than what was reported in a news article.

All we have asked is when did Collins look Luke up, why did he look Luke up and who was it he allegedly passed information on to.

This should not happen, if everything was as they claim it to be then there would be no need for them to cover up evidence and lock us out of every avenue in which to get it.

So, we’re now advocating for Luke’s law. To stop police investigating themselves and ultimately finding they did nothing wrong.

Luke’s law is the establishment of a national independent body that will investigate all police related deaths and serious injury with public records, so that the coroners cannot continue to corrupt the Coroner’s Act by suppressing evidence the state doesn’t want the public to see.

And lastly, Darren and Nicola, you’ve published Shot Dead to set the record straight on the death of Luke and the system that deals with such incidents, which you consider to be corrupt, as it shields police officers who do take lethal action in questionable circumstances.

So, what sort of impact are you hoping Shot Dead makes? And what other outcomes are you seeking at present in respect of ‘Justice for Luke’?

We have already had such a great response to the book. It reached number 1 best seller on release, and we hope the impact will be felt around Australia because what’s happened to our family can so easily happen to others when power is left unchecked.

Other families are reaching out to say they have experienced similar abuses of power, so this book is highlighting that there is a pattern here, this is not isolated and whilst the circumstances surrounding Luke’s killing may be unique, the abuse of procedure, the inaction of police and the cover up of any wrongdoing by government is not. It is widespread and we must stand together against it.

The outcome, when people read the book, will be that it proves without a shadow of a doubt that police should not be trusted to investigate police and that Luke’s killing needs to be investigated independently without fear or favour and that everyone involved in the cover up be held accountable for their actions and inaction.

Then and only then, will there be Justice for Luke and we will have the luxury to grieve for our son in peace.