A bodybuilder who got three women pregnant this year and said he hired a hitman to kill one of them before being shot dead in a shotgun rampage dreamt of "going out big".
One of Daniel King's ex-lovers Claire Day has taken to social media overnight, writing that the 32-year-old wanted his death to make headlines.
"You had dreams about the way you would go out, you wanted it to be big just like it was," she wrote. "You wanted it to be on the news and your name to be remembered.
"I loved you dearly and I'm so, so sorry nothing else worked. You made peace with me and said your loves last week I assumed I knew why."
Ms Day, who lives in Brisbane, said she was pregnant with his baby earlier this year, but did not go ahead with the pregnancy.
King left two children behind, a toddler daughter and a teenage son, and he was also expecting a child with mother-of-three Stacey Taylor after a reported one-night stand.
Ms Taylor has told the media she's pregnant with his baby and her mother yesterday revealed disturbing texts that show King said he had paid a hitman to have her killed.
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It's understood King wanted the unborn child terminated to save his relationship with another woman, Natalie, who was also carrying his baby.
King told friends earlier this year Natalie was his fiancee, though she broke the engagement off when she heard of Ms Taylor's pregnancy, The Daily Telegraph reported.
"He really regretted the one-night-stand and begged Stacey to get rid of the kid as he didn't want to lose Natalie, he genuinely cared for her," a close friend told the newspaper. "He said he didn't want to go through life without Nat, he adored her. He was a bit of a player and couldn't help himself."
Ms Taylor, 32, has claimed she previously warned police King was dangerous.
She said she called police when she was shown text messages earlier this year alleging he had hired a hitman to have both her and their unborn baby killed.
"The threats were saying that he actually hired a hit person to bash me and stab me in the stomach to make me lose my baby, so I wasn't pregnant anymore," she said.
"As soon I got the message, I was like, I'm not taking any of that lightly."
Ms Taylor said the messages were sent to her mother, Mandy, by another of King's ex-partners, but police did very little.
"I've got three kids, I'm pregnant, I went through domestic violence in the past," she said. "There's no way I'm going to go through all of that all over again."
Ms King also claims she tried to take out an apprehended violence order (AVO) against King, but police told her there was little evidence her life was at risk, according to Nine.
King was shot dead by police on Wednesday night after firing several shots at Ms Taylor's home in Marayong and in the vicinity of two police stations.
One policeman was hit in the back of the head by bullet fragments when King used a pump-action 12 gauge shotgun to fire at officers outside Penrith police station, and they had "no choice" but to return fire, Deputy Commissioner Jeff Loy said.
King died at the scene.
NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman, who is also the Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence, told the ABC that Ms Taylor's claims would be investigated.
"Women's safety has to be paramount so if any woman feels that her partner or other family member threatens her safety, she must come forward and report it to police," he said.
Ms Taylor said she had known King since primary school and the two had gone on a couple of dates, but she hadn't heard from him for at least six months before the attack.
"(I was) very frightened, not only for myself, but mainly for my children and my family," she said.
A critical incident investigation team will now investigate the incident.
King's mates have spoken to about how was the bodybuilder was "struggling" mentally and Ms Taylor says he made several threats to kill himself.
His mental decline was made public on social media — culminating in a series of dark Instagram posts on the day he died.
Before switching to bodybuilding, King was a reserve grade rugby league player due to an injury.
Talking to the Men of League Foundation, which cares for members of the rugby league community who have fallen on hard times, King said he played rugby league in the reserve grade for the Penrith Panthers before he twisted his neck in a tackle and suffered a delayed stroke — forcing him to hang up his boots in 2009.
Aside from bodybuilding, he ran a clothing business called NLT Apparel, which he launched on Instagram in January.
Pictures on the account show him holding large wads of cash and posing with dogs and scantly-clad women.
However, less than two weeks after NLT launched, King posted a rant on the account about a traumatic relationship breakdown.
The post on the NLT account hinted at suicide amid his struggles with a bicep reconstruction.
"As they leave you smash ur head against the wall in hope the physical pain u cause will dull the pain inside," he wrote.
"There was one of two choices to be made. Write a little letter and feed yourself a bullet, or pull yourself together and make a promise that you'll come back bigger and better."
But King seemed optimistic in comments on the post — saying that "something good" was around the corner and he could "feel it".
However, the posts on his personal Instagram page turned increasingly dark in recent months.
Before his rampage, King posted a farewell message alongside an image of slain rapper Tupac Shakur that read: "A COWARD DIES A THOUSAND DEATHS, A SOLDIER DIES BUT ONCE".
Last night, the 32-year-old posted a picture of him with a woman who he said he was "indebted to in more ways then u (sic) know".
In one of the posts, King wrote: "It was only a matter of time before I f**ked things up, not intentionally I promise but enough is enough."
"Love you to the moon and back. Good by (sic)".
In Wednesday, he posted a meme which read "be careful who you trust" — writing underneath "watch out".
In July he posted a picture of two handguns, with engravings that read: "Lord protect me from my friends. I can take care of my enemies."
In the caption below, he wrote: "The closest people around you, the ones you confided in the most are the biggest rats," he wrote. "The snakes in the grass always end up getting you. They may win the battle but i WILL win the war."
He added the hashtags: "#seeusoon" and "makingthearrangements".
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