A gunman who allegedly shot dead four people in an hour-long rampage through Darwin was a kid from a good family whose life was sent ‘off the rails’ by drugs.
Benjamin Glenn Hoffmann is suspected of killing four men and filling a woman’s legs with buckshot as he fired more than 20 rounds from a sawn-off shotgun, on Tuesday night.
The 45-year-old was released from jail in January after more than a year behind bars after being charged with a dozen crimes in 2015.
They included two counts of aggravated assault, going armed in public, unlawful entry, and seven counts of property damage.
Ben Hoffmann (pictured), 45, allegedly killed four people during a shooting rampage on Tuesday evening and injured one other
Hoffmann was still wearing his ankle monitor when he allegedly shot his way through five locations across the Northern Territory capital.
The heavily-tattooed man is part of a respected Darwin family who fell in with a bad crowd during a rehab stint.
His accountant brother Clinton Hoffmann owns a successful consulting company in Darwin and runs a mentoring program for Aboriginal business-people.
However, family friends said he ‘went off the rails’ after he got addicted to meth and became associated with a bikie gang.
‘He’s been in and out of jail for at least 15 years and using drugs heavily for far longer than that,’ one said.
The man, who was known to police and was released on parole earlier this year, was arrested after about an hour of terror that involved five locations
His accountant brother Clinton Hoffmann (pictured) owns a successful consulting company in Darwin and runs a mentoring program for Aboriginal business-people.
After his release in January, his mother pleaded with a family friend to give him a job at a roofing company, but he was let go for repeated not showing up.
In the days before the shooting, the heavily-tattooed man was fired from his job at a roofing company after he repeatedly failed to show up for work,
‘His mum rang me and said: ”Can you please help him? Give him a second chance in life”,’ his former boss told the NT News.
‘He wasn’t coming in to work and I basically said a few days ago – I told him ”you have to go elsewhere, you have to start looking for other work and start over”.
He said he was in disbelief over what had happened.
Hoffmann was dramatically arrested in the middle of the street after personally calling NT Police Superintendent Lee Morgan to hand himself in.
The chaos began at the Palms Motel in Finniss St, just before 6pm, as a man wearing hi-vis clothing allegedly began firing shots as he moved from room to room.
Emergency service vehicles were seen attending the scene in Darwin on Tuesday evening
The initial shooting unfolded in the city’s inner suburbs just before 6pm, but there are reports of up to five further crime scenes (police attending the scene pictured)
A witness, who was confronted by the alleged gunman, said he appeared calm as he moved through the property.
‘We pulled up here and we heard a lot of banging and saw people scattering… all of a sudden we looked in the window here and (saw) a guy with a gun. We saw him walking calmly down through the unit blocks.
‘(Police) went straight past him because they didn’t know who he was. He was that calm.’
Facebook user John Rose said he witnessed a man ‘shoot up the Palms Hotel’.
‘We watched him like 20 feet away, calmly walk into the hotel room shoot the door open and then proceeded to shoot up every room,’ he wrote.
Witness Leah Potter, who was at the nearby Alatai Holiday Apartments, said she saw a woman get shot.
Ms Potter told the ABC she had initially thought fireworks had been going off.
‘I was in the carpark [of a nearby hotel] when I heard what I thought were fireworks going off, really loud cracking, banging fireworks,’ she said.
The map shows four of the confirmed crime scene locations the suspected attended on Tuesday evening
‘And then a man came running with a woman in his arms from next door which is the Palms Motel, which is the motel next to my motel, and he just dropped her on the footpath right in front of us.’
She said she tried to help the woman, who had ‘little holes’ in her skin on both legs.
Ms Potter added the victim was ‘bleeding everywhere’.
Another witness, who had been standing in the car park, said he saw a man carrying a wounded woman.
‘There was this man carrying a woman towards me, put her in front of me and her legs were covered in blood,’ he said.
‘She obviously had been shot. So I went and got a towel for her. Wrapped up her legs. By that stage the police were running over.’
Witness Leah Potter, who was at the Alatai Holiday Apartments (pictured) near to the city’s Central Business District, said she saw a woman get shot
Another witness told the ABC he watched the man walk ‘from room to room shooting every room’.
It is believed one man was killed and the woman was injured at the motel.
When the alleged shooter fled the scene in a vehicle, it is believed he made his way to an apartment complex on Garden Hills Crescent in The Gardens, where one man is believed to have been died.
The exact timeline of events remains unclear.
Shots also rang out at the nearby Buffalo Club, where another person is believed to have perished in the car park.
Another man was reportedly killed when the man stormed a Jolly St home.
A male, who had been in the home at the time, told NT News a man broke into his house and allegedly shot his housemate.
‘He came right in and I asked him what he was doing but he didn’t even look at me, went right past me and shot my mate, he’s still in there… I thought I was dead for sure. It was unbelievable,’ the witness said.
Police have confirmed a 45-year-old male is now in custody (Police attending the crime scene pictured)
Police have confirmed four people have died and more a believed to have been injured (Ambulance officer near to the scene pictured)
The alleged gunman also attempted to enter the Peter McCauley Centre facility, police said.
After about an hour on the run he contacted police and requested to be put into protective custody, Police Commissioner for the Northern Territory Reece Kershaw told reporters.
A team of heavily armed police officers were then sent to McMinn Street, where they swarmed a vehicle at the intersection before the man was tasered.
The man, who was covered in blood and without a shirt, dropped to the floor where he was arrested. He is in police custody at the Royal Darwin Hospital.
Police confirmed they were still trying to establish intent and motivation.
The female victim was taken to the Royal Darwin Hospital in a stable condition.
The alleged shooter is expected to be charged with four counts of murder.
It’s understood the alleged gunman was surrounded by armed police in the centre of an intersection before he was tasered (McMinn Street pictured)
Prime Minister Scott Morrison condemn the shooting.
‘This is a terrible act of violence that has already, I’m advised, taken the lives of four people. There are a number of others who have – casualties but the details of that is still not yet confirmed,’ Mr Morrison said from London.
He said the matter would be ‘managed’ and ‘dealt with’ by the Northern Territory government.’
‘I want to thank the Chief Minister (Michael) Gunner for the way that he’s working with the Commonwealth authorities but particularly I just want to extend my deep condolences and sympathies,’ he said.
Mr Morrison said the community in Darwin would be ‘rocked’ by the attack, but advised it was ‘not a terrorist act’.
‘There is nothing to suggest that that is the case whatsoever. This is – the true motivations of this criminal and violent act will become better known.
‘There is a person, I understand, in custody and they will work through those normal processes,’ Mr Morrison said.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison (pictured) has spoken out to condemn the ‘terrible act of violence’
‘In the meantime, I think it is important that everyone in Darwin, everyone in the Territory, understands that the thoughts of Australians, wherever they are, as far as away as where I am today or closer to home, they will be thinking very much of their fellow.’
Chief Minister Michael Gunner confirmed authorities do not believe the attack is a terror related.
‘This is not the Darwin we know. As Chief Minister, on behalf of Territorians, our thoughts are with the families and friends of the victim[s]and everybody else who has been impacted,’ Chief Minister Gunner said.
‘I understand when an event like this occurs, especially considering recent global events, people’s fears turn to terrorism. I can confirm that we do not believe this is a terrorism incident.’
He went on to thank the emergency services who attended the scene.
‘This may be an event you prepare for but this is never an event you want to respond to. I thank our police and first responders.
‘This has been an incredibly difficult night tonight. Territorians can be proud of those who serve us on our front-line.’
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