A “radicalized” and mentally ill 16-year-old boy was shot dead by police in the suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, on Saturday night after injuring a person in a knife attack, police said. reported the authorities, Sunday May 5.
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The teenager, armed with a knife, “ rushed » on the police and he was fatally shot by an agent, said the Prime Minister of the State of Western Australia, Roger Cook, during a press conference.
“ There are indications that he was radicalized online. But I want to reassure the population, at this stage, it seems that he acted alone “, also declared Roger Cook. Police received a call Saturday evening from a man warning he was going to commit ” acts of violence » but without giving his name or location, the head of the state police, Col Blanch, told journalists. A few minutes later, he added, police received an emergency call warning them that a “ man with a knife ran » at a car park in Willetton, in the southern suburbs of Perth.
The individual was armed with a 30 centimeter long kitchen knife and according to images from a police body camera, the teenager refused to put it on the ground as requested by the police. order, indicated Col Blanch. The officers fired two tasers but “ neither had the desired effect. “, he related.
“ The man continued to advance toward (an officer) with a gun who fired a single shot and fatally injured him. » the individual, said the police official. The teenager died in hospital later that night.
“ Online radicalization »
The man ” middle-aged » injured by a single stab wound during the attack is in a “ severe » but stable, said the police official. Police believe the teenager sent messages to members of the Muslim community who immediately notified police, he said without disclosing information about their content.
The teenager had mental health problems, but also problems of online radicalization », According to the same source. In recent years, the attacker was monitored as part of a program to combat violence and extremism. “ This is not an approach based on the criminal dimension, it is a program aimed at helping individuals who express ideologies of concern to our community “, explained Mr. Blanch.
The Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese explained that he had been kept informed of the facts by the police and the intelligence services, according to whom there was no “ ongoing threat “. “ We are a nation committed to peace and there is no place for violent extremism in Australia », Wrote Anthony Albanese on social networks.
I’ve also received a briefing on the situation by the ASIO Director-General and the AFP Commissioner, and I’m advised there is no ongoing threat to the community on the information available.
We are a peace-loving nation and there is no place for violent extremism in Australia.
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) May 5, 2024
Violent crimes are rare in Australia. This incident comes less than a month after another knife attack which left six people dead in a shopping center in Sydney, in the south-east of the country.
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