Perth, Australia, police have shot and killed a 16-year-old boy who stabbed a man in a parking lot and officials said the boy was on police radar for suspected extremist tendencies.
Police Commissioner Colonel Blanch told a news conference on Sunday morning that the shooting happened just after 10pm on Saturday after Western Australia police received a call from a man who said he was going to commit an act of violence. The public also reported to the police that the teenager was armed with a knife, and the police dispatched officers to the scene.
The incident comes just weeks after two stabbing attacks in Australia. A A large-scale stabbing incident occurred in a shopping mall On April 13, six people were killed and at least a dozen injured in Sydney. Days later, a 15-year-old boy was arrested in Sydney. Assyrian Orthodox bishop stabbed and several others attended a mass in what police described as an act of terrorism.
Commissioner Branch said two police officers arrived to confront the teenager in Perth on Saturday, with Tasers and firearms drawn. They tried to convince him to drop the knife, but he refused to comply and rushed towards one of the officers.
After officers fired their Tasers, the suspect continued to advance toward the armed officers, who then shot him. The teen died in hospital an hour later.
The suspect stabbed a middle-aged man in the parking lot before confronting police. The victim was stabbed in the back and was in serious but stable condition, authorities said.
Police said the suspect, a white male whose identity has not been released, has been known to police for years to have potential violent extremist tendencies. But Western Australia Premier Roger Cook said they had concluded “he appears to have acted alone” in Saturday’s attack.
“This is a very tragic incident in Western Australia,” Commissioner Branch told a news conference on Sunday.
“We are a peaceful nation and there is no place for violent extremism in Australia,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a statement Post on X in response to Saturday’s episode.
