On this day
Plain Clothes Constable
Brett Timothy HANDRAN
YEAR OF DEATH
29 June 1989
JURISDICTION
Queensland
DETAILS OF DEATH
On 29 June 1989 Constable Brett Handran and Constable Steve Clarey of the Juvenile Aid Bureau responded to a call over the police radio for any available car that could attend a serious domestic in Wynnum where shots had been fired. The domestic disturbance involved a man named Tony Dolerund. As they were nearing the address information came to hand over the police radio that two persons had been confirmed shot. The JAB police officers arrived at the same time as other uniform staff. As Constable Handran was walking towards the uniform patrol car a shot was heard. Handran was seen to clutch the left side of his chest. He staggered to the drivers side of the marked police vehicle and sat down. An urgent request was made for an ambulance over the police radio. As Constable Clarey was relaying information to the uniform officers he was grazed by a gunshot wound to the left side of the head. Constable Handran died in the ambulance on the way to hospital. During the incident Dolerud also shot dead his two-year-old daughter. A neighbour who was attempting to escort the child from the house was also shot and seriously wounded. Dolerud himself committed suicide at the scene of the tragedy. After a service for the fallen officers at the Qld. Police Academy Chapel Constable Brett Handran was privately cremated.
