[1][3][4][5] The driver of the vehicle, James "Dimitrious" Gargasoulas, who was in a drug-induced psychosis, was subsequently found guilty of six counts of murder and was sentenced to life in prison with a non-parole period of 46 years.

[1] Upon being interviewed, the car owner alleged that on the night of 18 January 2017, Gargasoulas entered his flat with a Bible, sat down, started burning it and threw it into his face.

[8] In the early hours of 20 January 2017, Gargasoulas used methamphetamine at his mother's flat in Windsor and then attacked his brother in the street stabbing him in the head and chest with a knife leaving him in a critical condition.

Two men, Year 12 student Tevita Mahina and his cousin Isaac Tupou, attempted to stop him, hitting the windscreen with a baseball bat.

The vehicle was stopped outside 555 Bourke Street by a combination of mechanical failure and from being rammed by a Victoria Police Ford Territory from the Operations Response Unit.

[17][18][15] A memorial for the victims was held in Federation Square on 23 January[19] and floral tributes were left by members of the public at nine locations along the Bourke Street Mall.

[20] On 30 January it was announced that a permanent memorial garden would be established, and that donations approaching AU$1,000,000 had been made to the Bourke Street Fund for the families of the victims.

[24] Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton was quick to dismiss claims the attack was an act of terror and said it was related to a stabbing incident earlier that day which had developed into a crime spree.

On 19 November 2020, Coroner Jacqui Hawkins released a finding which was scathing of Victoria Police's handling of the incident, saying that efforts to negotiate with Gargasoulas amounted to 'nothing more than two phone calls and bizarre text messages'.

[34] In the days before the attack, Gargasoulas began to post messages on Facebook about "religion, God, Satan, heaven and hell", which writers for The Age described as "rambling and often nonsensical".

His defence lawyers made a submission that given his current mental state he was unfit to stand trial and advised the court that they were awaiting further medical reports.

[42][1] Medical experts were of the opinion that on the day of the offence he was suffering from a drug-induced psychosis with paranoid delusional beliefs and was found to have amphetamine-type substances, barbiturates and benzodiazepines in his system.