THE "TIGHT-KNIT" community of Stockton is reeling after an armed woman died at the end of a nine-hour police siege which saw tactical officers flood a quiet street.
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Michael Alpin was born and bred in Stockton and has lived there for more than 60 years.
His Queen Street home was right next to the area that was cordoned off with police tape while specialist officers investigated the circumstances surrounding the death of an axe-wielding woman.
"No one likes this happening anywhere, be it their suburb or not," Mr Alpin told the Newcastle Herald.
The 47-year-old woman lived above a barber shop on the corner of Queen and Mitchell streets.
Mr Alpin said no one in his household knew the woman well, but neighbours had been worried about her behaviour and mental health in the days before she wielded an axe and was Tasered by police.
"It's all tragic," he said.
"It is a tight-knit community ... it's still got a village feel."
Jan Thomas has lived in Stockton for almost 30 years and told the Herald the news of the woman's death had been shocking to wake up to.
"It is awful ... she is somebody's daughter," she said.
It's understood the woman was a mother.
Ms Thomas said Stockton is the sort of place where everyone knows everyone, though she wasn't familiar with the 47-year-old woman in the flat.
She said she hadn't heard what had happened overnight but when she went to walk her dog on Friday morning, saw the police tape and an outline of a body on the ground.
She said the police operation and the way it had ended had rattled locals, but the community banded together during hard times.
"We have to," she said.
Ms Thomas recalled other horrific events that had rocked Stockton, including the discovery of a baby's body in a backyard, and a tragic suspected murder-suicide, both in 2019.
Only a few houses down from the crime scene on Queen Street was the unit block where Stockton grandmother Stacey Klimovitch was shot dead when she answered her front door in June 2021.
"For a small community, there's been a hell of a lot [of tragedy]," she said.
Both Ms Thomas and Mr Alpin said they were concerned about access to mental health help in the Stockton area.
Stockton locals and visitors to the beachside suburb stopped on the corner of Queen and Mitchell streets as they tried to work out what had unfolded in their neighbourhood.
Dozens of police, including detectives and specialist officers, remained at the scene on Friday amid a critical incident investigation.
Stockton barber Syd Talaghani described the harrowing moment he locked the door to his shop, underneath the flat the woman lived in, and called police on Thursday afternoon.
He told the Herald two people he understood to be real estate agents had gone to "have a chat" with the 47-year-old woman but that she then grabbed an axe, and at another point, an item that looked to him like a baton.
He was a broken man on Friday when he found out the woman had died.
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"It has not been an easy day, emotionally," he said.
"Everyone deserves to have a good life."
He said he had been friendly with the woman and cut her hair at his High Powered Barber shop after moving into the building about six weeks ago.
He said things had deteriorated quickly and he became upset with her behaviour towards him and his customers, but said the outcome of the nine-hour siege was tragic.
Police were called to the flat about 12.30pm on Thursday and allege the woman threatened officers with an axe.
An emergency operation involving specialist negotiators and tactical police was sparked, and officers gained entry to the unit about 9.45pm.
Police said they used a number of tactical options to take the woman into custody including the use of a Taser.
She was then escorted to an ambulance, however, her condition deteriorated and she was taken to John Hunter Hospital, where she later died.
Homicide squad detectives are investigating the incident and it will be independently reviewed.
The 47-year-old woman's death comes four months after the widely-publicised death of 95-year-old great-grandmother and dementia patient Clare Nowland, who died seven days after she was tasered by police at a Cooma aged care facility in May.
- Support is available for those who may be distressed. Phone Lifeline 13 11 14; Men's Referral Service 1300 776 491; Kids Helpline 1800 551 800; beyondblue 1300 224 636; 1800-RESPECT 1800 737 732.
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Police and crime reporter at the Newcastle Herald. Email: afalkenmire@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Police and crime reporter at the Newcastle Herald. Email: afalkenmire@austcommunitymedia.com.au
