NSW Police has confirmed officers conducted a welfare check on Artemios Mintzas in the weeks before he allegedly peppered a busy Sydney street with bullets, injuring 16.
A close family member of Mr Mintzas has told the ABC she asked police to visit his Croydon Park unit three weeks ago, after growing increasingly concerned about his state of mind.
Police said they attended the 60-year-old’s apartment in September, but officers found him to be “fine”.
Mr Mintzas is accused of opening fire out of his unit window on Sunday night, shooting indiscriminately at pedestrians, police and passing cars.Â
He allegedly sprayed almost 50 bullets from a high-calibre rifle, hitting one man in the neck and chest.
Mr Mintzas faced court this week, charged with 25 offences including shooting with intent to murder.Â
Police are still probing a motive for the shooting.
Mr Mintzas allegedly fired ‘up to 50’ shots in a street at Croydon Park. (Facebook: Artie Mintzas)
‘A good person’
One family member, who asked not to be named for privacy reasons, said she was so shocked she “just about dropped to the floor”.
“When he wasn’t depressed, he was a good loving father, a good person — he would never think like that,” she said.
Mr Mintzas’s family said he had grown increasingly unhappy in recent months after struggling to find a suitable unit to rent.
Earlier this year, she said he was evicted from his Belfield rental when the owners decided to sell, which his former real estate agency confirmed.
Mr Mintzas moved into the Croydon Park unit in June, but it had a flight of stairs he found difficult to walk up due to health issues, according to his family.
He often had to sleep overnight in an armchair on the ground floor and grew miserable, the family member said.
“I told him you need help. You need someone … I thought he was OK, [that] he listened to me.
“We tried our best to help him.”
After requesting police conduct a welfare check last month, she was told he was “alright”.
The father of two had been divorced for over decade but maintained good relations with his former partner and children.
His final conversation with his family was last Wednesday, following a shift at Sydney Trains where he worked as a customer service attendant.
Police said shots were fired “indiscriminately” at passers-by and into businesses over a two-hour period.
 (ABC News: Timothy Ailwood)
Acting Superintendent Stephen Parry said officers from Burwood Police Station attended Mr Mintzas’s home in September.
“Officers went around there … they said he was fine,” he said.
“We get calls of this nature [welfare checks] every day from people in relation to friends, relatives, whoever.”
NSW Police is investigating how Mr Mintzas allegedly came into possession of a .30-calibre, M1 Carbine rifle, as his firearms licence had expired in 1992.
A search of his unit found no specific “threat to commit self-harm or [to say] I’m going to do XYZ,” but there were documents with “stuff jotted down,” Acting Superintendent Parry said.
Police said Mr Mintzas had no known mental health history.
“Unfortunately, a lot of people do have different struggles at different times, and it is sometimes difficult to reach out for help,” Acting Superintendent Parry said.
Mr Mintzas will next face court on December 3.