Queensland's police commissioner says officers "obviously" shot at a man when he allegedly lunged at them with a knife during a hostage situation in Brisbane because "knives are just as dangerous as guns".
The 32-year-old Kedron man died of his wounds in Logan Hospital on Friday night after being shot multiple times by police in the afternoon in the car park of a McDonald's Marsden, in the city's south.
The Ethical Standards Command is probing officers' actions during the shooting with Crime and Corruption Commission oversight.
Police Commissioner Katrina Carroll says the man was holding a female McDonald's worker hostage at knifepoint when officers arrived at the carpark about 4.40pm on Friday.
She says police "weren't fully aware of the circumstances" but tried to negotiate with him and asked him several times to put down the knife, but he refused.
Ms Carroll says the man then lunged at the officers and they opened fire, hitting him with bullets "a number of times".
"When he came at police, obviously police took action," she told reporters on Saturday.
The man was rushed to hospital, but the commissioner said "unfortunately, he did succumb to his injuries.
Ms Carroll said there was YouTube footage of the fatal shooting and she defended her officers' use of deadly force, saying "knives are just as dangerous as guns".
"If not more, so they can be removed very, very quickly and acted with within milliseconds," the commissioner said.
"And that's what took place last night."
Ms Carroll said police were still investigating the circumstances of the shooting and the dead man's relationship with the woman.
They're also talking to witnesses and other people at the nearby Chambers Flat shopping centre who were allegedly threatened earlier on Friday.
