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A 16-year-old boy armed with a knife was shot dead by police after he stabbed a man in the Australian city of Perth.
Police were called by the teenager on Saturday night, who had threatened violence before stabbing a man in the car park of a hardware store in Willerton.
Police commissioner Col Branch told reporters that the incident had “hallmarks of terrorism”.
Local authorities said that concerns had been raised about his behaviour within the local Muslim community.
He was shot dead after Tasers failed to subdue him and he lunged towards officers while armed with a knife.
Western Australian premier Roger Cook said: “There are indications he had been radicalised online.
“But I want to reassure the community at this stage it appears that he acted solely and alone.”
Western Australian premier Roger Cook said there were indications the boy had been radicalised online (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)A man in his 30s was found at the scene with a stab wound to his back and remains in hospital in a serious but stable condition.
At the time of the incident, the boy had been participating in a programme for young people at risk of radicalisation.
“I don’t want to say he has been radicalised or is radicalised because I think that forms part of the investigation,” Western Australian police commissioner Col Blanch said.
While police officers had received a call from the boy threatening to carry out a violent act at 10pm, they were unaware of his location. They were later alerted by a phone call from a member of the public that a knife attack was underway in the parking lot.
Three officers were deployed to the scene, with one armed with a gun and two armed with Tasers. He was later killed by a single gunshot wound after failing to comply.
Western Australian Police Commissioner Col Blanch speaks at a press conference in Perth, Australia (AP)Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he had been briefed on the latest stabbing in Perth and said: “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.”
The Imam of Perth’s largest mosque, the Nasir Mosque, condemned the stabbing.
“There is no place for violence in Islam,” Imam Syed Wadood Janud said in a statement.
“We appreciate the effort of the police to keep our communities safe. I also want to commend the local Muslim community who had flagged the individual prior with the police,” Wadood added.
Some Muslim leaders have criticized Australian police for declaring last month’s church stabbing a terrorist act but not a rampage two days earlier in a Sydney shopping mall in which six people were killed and a dozen wounded. The 40-year-old attacker in the mall attack was shot dead by police. Police have yet to reveal the man’s motive.
The church attack is only the third to be classified by Australian authorities as a terrorist act since 2018.
In December 2022, three Christian fundamentalists shot dead two police officers and a bystander in an ambush near the community of Wieambilla in Queensland state. The shooters were later killed by police.
In November 2018, a Somalia-born Muslim stabbed three pedestrians in downtown Melbourne, killing one, before police shot him dead.
