A NSW prison inmate is believed to have shot himself dead on a Wollongong street after he stole the gun of a corrective services officer while he was being transferred to a medical facility.
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The 37-year-old man was an inmate at South Coast Correctional Centre.
The Mercury understands he was being led into a medical appointment inside the Piccadilly Centre on the corner of Gladstone Avenue and Crown Street about midday Wednesday when he pushed passed two correctives officers - one male, one female - and disarmed one of them.
Multiple bystanders saw the man brandishing the gun on Gladstone Avenue.
The Mercury understands he fired shots into two cars, including a passing police car, before then turning the weapon on himself. He died in an alleyway running down the back of the complex.
A spokeswoman for Corrective Services NSW said the circumstances surrounding the death of the inmate were being investigated.
"The 37-year-old man suffered serious self-inflicted injuries during an escort to a medical facility at approximately midday today and died a short time later," she said.
"All deaths in custody are subject to a coronial inquest."
A spokeswoman for NSW Police said: "During the incident a police dog unit vehicle was driving past and was allegedly hit with a bullet. The officer and the dog were not injured," she said.
Police have set up an extensive crime scene, cordoning off multiple sites in and around the centre, which contains the rooms of several specialist medical services.
Dapto's Linda Parker was among several people who took cover after arriving for a specialist's appointment and hearing there was a gunman on the loose.
"I let them (reception staff) know I was here, then two ladies came in after me and said, 'there's a man out there with a gun, we need to close the doors'. And then we heard two shots fired. Just two."
Wollongong man Jason Regal said he saw the inmate running across Gladstone Avenue soon before the shots sounded.
"He was wearing green - jail green," he said. "I heard noises, maybe yelling or something.
"I saw the gun and I just walked away. I wasn't going near it."
He said he heard two bangs, which he later realised were gunshots.
"I honestly thought the noises were coming from the building site (opposite) because I hear them all the time."
A Sydney resident, Karen, heard the shots and saw the man lying injured and almost motionless in the alleyway.
"I heard two (shots) and then I heard another three and then I saw the guy on the ground. He had dark hair and he was wearing a green shirt.
"There was blood in the ground at the back of his head. I knew they were gunshot (wounds).
"He was moving his hands. I got out of there.
"There was a police man standing there and I ran up to him and told him that I saw the man lying on the ground."
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