{"id":25277,"date":"2026-06-05T06:10:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T06:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/25277\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T06:10:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T06:10:10","slug":"fatal-shooting-of-police-worker-curtis-cheng-by-teenager-unpreventable-inquest-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/25277\/","title":{"rendered":"Fatal shooting of police worker Curtis Cheng by teenager unpreventable, inquest finds"},"content":{"rendered":"

An inquest into the shooting death of Sydney police accountant Curtis Cheng has found there was “no reasonable opportunity” for law enforcement officials to intervene prior to the incident.<\/p>\n

The 58-year-old police civilian employee was shot and killed by 15-year-old Farhad Jabar Khalil Mohammad outside police headquarters in Parramatta on October 2, 2015.<\/p>\n

The teenage gunman, known to NSW Joint Counter Terrorism Team (NSW JCTT) investigators, was then shot by a special constable at the scene in Sydney’s west, after being alerted by the sounds of gunshots directed towards the building.<\/p>\n

Deputy State Coroner Derek Lee, in delivering his findings on Friday, said the fatal attack on Mr Cheng had been the result of violent Islamic extremism.<\/p>\n

“The extremist ideology directed towards police made the events all the more shocking,” Magistrate Lee said.<\/p>\n

“It raised serious disquiet and has left an indelible impact on the families and the community which is still felt today.”Police actions ‘appropriate’\"Curtis<\/p>\n

Curtis Cheng (left) pictured with his family, was shot dead more than 10 years ago. (Supplied: NSW Police)<\/p>\n

The deputy state coroner said while there had been some surveillance of a group surrounding the radicalised teen, he had not been individually identified as at risk of violent extremist acts by NSW JCTT investigators.<\/p>\n

“While Operation Peckham investigators had correctly identified persons of interest were suspected of planning a specific terrorist act at a specific location, the intelligence gathered did not allow for the details of the participants to be identified,” he said.<\/p>\n

He said the teen was not the subject of any specific surveillance.<\/p>\n

Magistrate Lee said it was only after the incident that investigators were able to form an accurate picture.<\/p>\n

He said it would not have been possible to prevent the shooting of Mr Cheng.<\/p>\n

“The final steps of the planned act were only taken about three hours before the shooting of Mr Cheng,” he said.<\/p>\n

“This limited time frame and the absence of any information and intelligence to suggest Farhad Mohammad was a participant meant that there was no reasonable opportunity for law enforcement authorities to intervene to prevent the shooting of Mr Cheng.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A plaque was commissioned to honour the former NSW Police employee. (ABC News: Abubakr Sajid)<\/p>\n

Magistrate Lee also said his findings showed appropriate force had been used by NSW Police in the fatal shooting of the teenager at the scene.<\/p>\n

He said a special constable, codenamed ‘C’, took the only tactical option available to him when he responded to gunshots outside police headquarters.<\/p>\n

“The discharge of his firearm was appropriate given the immediate threat to his life and the public,” he said.A devoted husband<\/p>\n

In a statement on Friday, Mr Cheng’s family said now that the coroner’s findings had been released, they could focus on honouring his memory.<\/p>\n

“We also want to acknowledge the special constables and the police officers who assisted and worked tirelessly throughout this process,” the statement said.<\/p>\n

“Their dedication, compassion and professionalism will always be remembered as we continue to honour Curtis.”<\/p>\n

Magistrate Lee said Mr Cheng had come to Australia from Hong Kong and became an Australian citizen in 1998.<\/p>\n

He paid tribute to Mr Cheng as a devoted husband and father who loved his wife and children dearly.<\/p>\n

“He embodied the values which shaped this country, through his determination and hard work,” he said.<\/p>\n

While delivering his findings, Magistrate Lee praised Mr Cheng’s family for their “strength, courage, patience and generosity” during the public legal proceedings.<\/p>\n

“While his life was ended prematurely by an act of senseless violence, he will not be defined by it,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An inquest into the shooting death of Sydney police accountant Curtis Cheng has found there was “no reasonable…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25278,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[23346,4746,23342,23345,23353,23356,23344,23347,23352,596,23351,8313,2021,23355,23349,15362,23348,23354,1559,23343,247,23350,2036,8312],"class_list":["post-25277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sydney","tag-appropriate-force","tag-coronial-inquest","tag-curtis-cheng-inquest","tag-deputy-state-coroner-derek-lee","tag-extremist-ideology","tag-farhad-jabar","tag-farhad-jabar-khalil-mohammad","tag-fatal-shooting","tag-islamic-extremism","tag-nsw","tag-nsw-jctt","tag-nsw-joint-counter-terrorism-team","tag-nsw-police","tag-operation-peckham","tag-outside-police-headquarters","tag-parramatta","tag-police-worker","tag-radicalisation","tag-shooting","tag-shooting-death","tag-sydney","tag-teenage-gunman","tag-teenager","tag-terrorism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}