Snapchats captured the moment a man driving his mother's SUV through the Hunter pointed a sawn-off shotgun out the window and fired it into the sky, saying "oops".
Brandon Rogan, 28, was arrested in the early hours of May 5 last year after tactical police and uniformed officers surrounded his Coal Point home.
The afternoon before, just after 3.30pm, Rogan had made a video story on social media platform Snapchat which showed himself wearing a black jumper driving his mother's Mazda CX5 in Toronto.
In the footage, he can be seen holding a sawn-off shotgun while driving, pointing the firearm out the driver's window and firing it into the air as he winces. He says "oops" and "oh my ears are ringing, I think I'm deaf".
Police said this discharge was in clear view of members of the public.
Rogan posted another Snapchat story captioned "someone come say hello" and said in the video "who's in Tenambit?".
He again shot the firearm into the sky out the driver's side car window and said "oh my f---ing ear".
A member of the public attended Maitland Police Station a short time later to report the behaviour that had been filmed.
Earlier in the evening, a friend called Rogan's mother to alert her to the Snapchats. She realised her SUV was missing from her Lake Macquarie home and the friend said they would tell police.
Investigators found the Mazda CX5 parked in a driveway at Tenambit, a suburb of Maitland, about 1.30am on May 5, 2025.
Rogan fired the sawn-off shotgun about 2.35am that morning whilst outside that home.
Rogan and a woman then got in his mother's car and travelled through the Maitland area as the police force's aerial PolAir unit tracked it with the backing of police on the ground.
Police activated their lights and sirens to prepare for a vehicle stop after Rogan entered Greta, then pulled over on the side of the highway.
Rogan did a U-turn, drove past police, then sped along the New England Highway towards Thornton.
Police and PolAir continued to follow him and clocked him reaching speeds of more than 150kmh along the M1 Motorway.
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Rogan eventually parked a couple of doors away from his mother's house, where he was living, and went home.
Tactical and uniformed police formed a perimeter around the property and Rogan walked out about 5.30am, when he was arrested.
Police said Rogan was subject to a firearm prohibition order at the time.
Rogan appeared by video link from custody in Newcastle Local Court on Wednesday, June 3, when he pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including discharging a firearm in a public place.
He made no bid for release ahead of his sentencing in Newcastle District Court at a later date.
