INSTAGRAM pictures have revealed how a man who was shot dead by police yesterday was looking forward to a “new chapter” in his life following a spell behind bars.

In the posts, some of which appear to have been posted while he was locked up, Liam Scorsese boasted of “looking lean” and “feeling fit”.

The 31-year-old was serving time at Gatton prison last year brutal bashing of a bus driver when a series of pictures emerged from his social media account.

“3 weeks and I’m a free man and coming home ...” one post said.

“Can’t wait too see all my brothers and loved ones and family use all know who you are ... #feelingfit #lookinglean #clearminded #cantwaittoseeyouall #fts”.

Shortly after walking free, Mr Scorsese checked in with his Instagram followers, saying prison was a “#blessingindisguise” — adding that it was “good to be free again”.

He describes himself as “#jailfit” in the post and wrote that the moment marked the beginning of a “new chapter.”

Despite his criminal past, Mr Scorsese’s lawyer said he was “just a man with tattoos and bad friends”.

Online tributes have poured in from devastated mates after Mr Scorsese was gunned down by police at Brisbane’s bayside home yesterday and pictures reveal how he showered one of them with gifts.

But when Queensland Police arrived at the scene, they say they found the Gold Coast man armed with a knife, trying to break in a house and threatening his ex-girlfriend.

Police say the “enraged” Comanchero associate was told to “put the weapon down”, but he didn’t.

Instead, Mr Scorsese reportedly yelled at the officers: “Shoot me, shoot me, shoot me.”

And, when a taser strike was “ineffective” and couldn’t stop Mr Scorsese, the two junior officers attending the Wakerley home in Goulburn Street retreated 50 or 60 metres down the street.

However, the Gold Coast man reportedly got up, followed the officers down the street and threatened them.

Acting Chief Superintendent Mick Niland told reporters that the officers were left with little choice and opened fire, hitting Mr Scorsese twice — one shot to the neck, and the other to the chest.

Police and a nearby neighbour assisted with CPR, but Scorsese was dead by the time he arrived at the Princess Alexandra Hospital.

However, in the aftermath, Mr Scorsese’s Gold Coast lawyer Ashkan Tai said his client was not a member of any outlaw motorcycle club and was working to get his life in order.

“He had enrolled in a barber’s course. Just because he got into one incident with the Comanchero, police label him. He wasn’t a bikie, he was just a man that was tattooed and had some bad friends,” Mr Tai has told The Courier Mail. “His family are obviously extremely distressed ... I would hope Ethical Standards investigate fairly the question of how a man can be shot dead by police, in suburbia, in the early hours, on a Sunday morning.”

Mr Scorsese’s friend, Chireez Beytell, posted on Facebook that her pain was “unbearable” and suffering “unimaginable”.

From pictures and videos on the Facebook page, it appears Ms Beytell and Mr Scorsese were in a relationship. She uploaded pictures of numerous gifts and posted private messages between the pair on her page.

“The pain is unbearable, the suffering unimaginable,” she wrote. “4 Years wasn’t enough, it wasn’t the lifetime u promised me or yourself, now your gone. May you fly with the angels, I will never let go bub I will never let go.”

Another friend posted that he was “angry and devastated” to hear of Mr Scorsese’s death.

“Too many memories to think of, from starting high school together, sleeping at mine every weekend, turning the back yard or living room into a hotel so everyone could sleep over or putting up tents in the back yard for everyone to sleep in,” he wrote.

“Both being the first to be kicked out of the school to both of us living up on the Gold Coast living together making the Q1 go crazy every day.

“We went through the good and the bad together up there, but no matter what it was we did, we did it the way we wanted to do it and made the most out of it.

“Hearing about how you passed makes me angry and devastated at the same time. As much as I hate that place I’m coming to say a final goodbye.”

UPDATE: Shooting incident, Wakerley

A 31-year-old Gold Coast man died in hospital following a police shooting at Wakerley this morning.https://t.co/nOx8l36ccF — Queensland Police (@QldPolice) February 25, 2018

However, Seven News reports that Mr Scorsese had a criminal record and had spent time in jail last year for two vicious assaults.

In 2016 he attacked a Gold Coast bus driver, who he dragged out of the bus and hit several times.

Also that year he was charged with assaulting paramedics and police who came to help him, after stabbing himself and crashing his car at Broadbeach Waters.

The Queensland Police Service’s Ethical Standards Command has launched an investigation into yesterday’s incident on behalf of the State Coroner, with the assistance of the Crime and Corruption Commission.

Queensland police Commissioner Ian Stewart said an investigation would look into why the taser was ineffective, but hinted it was unlikely to be a technical fault.

“Tasers are not a panacea, there are many issues we look at when a taser is deployed and it doesn’t have the effect we expect it to have,” he told reporters in Brisbane.

“That can be partly due to technical faults with the taser, that’s a rarity, but more importantly, where the subject is affected by various substances also comes into play.”

“He was armed, he has threatened police and as a result of those threats one officer has fired two shots,” Supt Niland told reporters. “Police were in fear of their lives at the time.”

Mr Scorsese registered a business at the Goulburn St home with another man in 2016, The Courier-Mailreports, and had previously listed the home as his bail address, according to sources.

Supt Niland said the incident was “traumatic” for both the family and the police involved and the officers were receiving counselling.

It is the second shooting incident involving Queensland police in less than two weeks, after a 16-year-old boy was shot after allegedly lunging at officers with a knife at Springfield, southwest of Brisbane on February 14. He was later charged after being released from hospital after treatment for non-life threatening injuries.

Police are currently responding to a critical incident in Wakerley. Media reports that an officer was stabbed during the incident are inaccurate. — Queensland Police (@QldPolice) February 25, 2018

— with AAP