A neighbour who was with Sean Ferris minutes before he stabbed two police officers and was then shot dead says the incident should never have escalated to this — as homemade weapons and a Samurai sword are removed from the property.
Neighbour and friend David Wallace, told ABC News Mr Ferris was known to have mental health issues and was a collector of weapons.
"It just shouldn't have escalated to this at all," he said.
He said Mr Ferris had homemade weaponry at his house, which he had in the first room of his property.
Mr Wallace said entering Mr Ferris's property "in those circumstances was a dangerous one".
SA Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said a detective superintendent has been appointed to lead a police inquiry into the incident.
On Wednesday, Brevet Sergeants Ian Todd and Jordan Allely were called to the Crystal Brook address on Symons Street, where they were stabbed by Mr Ferris, before he was shot dead.
Sergeant Todd suffered injuries to his neck, arm and hands and was flown by helicopter to the Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH) where he remains in a critical but stable condition.
Mr Wallace said Mr Ferris had been feeling "harassed" over the past few months as a number of complaints had been made about his dog Buddy barking out the front of the local supermarket.
Mr Wallace said the police had visited Mr Ferris on a number of occasions, but that Mr Ferris had admittedly failed to do anything about the dog.
Earlier, police said the stabbing and shooting followed a minor altercation outside the supermarket.
Mr Wallace said he was walking past Mr Ferris's property when Mr Ferris arrived home from the supermarket.
He said he was talking with Mr Ferris about the incident and about "five seconds after that", police arrived at the house.
"I tried to mosey on, and Sean went inside his property, and all I heard was Sean yelling out 'leave me alone, just leave me be, I'm sick of this, I'm sick of being harassed about [my] dog'."
"It must have just happened all straight after that, I just kept walking on a bit, and next minute there were just police everywhere and other vehicles than just police, so you knew something serious had happened."
Pauline Flavel, who works in a nearby op shop, was involved in the altercation outside of the supermarket.
She said she had always been on good terms with Mr Ferris and would regularly go up to pat his dog Buddy.
"To me, he was a friend. I only got to know him through Buddy, because he'd leave Buddy outside tied up and Buddy would bark," she said.
"I'd sit down and pat him and keep him quiet so that people didn't complain and that's how I got to know Sean."
Ms Flavel said she was in the shop yesterday when she saw Mr Ferris and Buddy go past.
"I said to my mate who was in there, 'he'll start barking soon, I'm going out to stop him', and Buddy was tied to one of the bolsters in front of Foodland," she recounted.
"Stupid me, I undid Buddy and shifted him up to the seat.
"I'd hardly tied him up and stopped him yapping, and Sean came out. I realised, as he came out, he couldn't see where Buddy should be."
It was at that point, Ms Flavel said, that Mr Ferris "went off his tree at me".
"It gave me such a shock … I was really upset, because he'd never, ever spoken to me like that," she said.
"When he stopped, and sort of undid Buddy and was leading him away, I just got up and put my arms [out] to give him a hug, and I said, 'I'm sorry, I must apologise for shifting Buddy'.
"I'd never heard him speak to anybody else like that, but apparently he had, especially in Foodland."
Ms Flavel, who also knows Sergeant Todd, said she was dismayed by what followed.
"I can't believe it. I really can't believe that he's (Sergeant Todd's) fighting for life, that something terrible could happen to him," she said.
