‘Radicalised’ 16-year-old shot dead by Australia police after stabbing man

Police in Australia say they have shot dead a boy after he stabbed a man in the western city of Perth, in an attack authorities said had “hallmarks of terrorism”.

There were signs the 16-year-old, armed with a kitchen knife, had been “radicalised online”, Western Australia province’s Premier Roger Cook told reporters on Sunday.

The victim in his 30s was stabbed in the back on Saturday night in the parking lot of a hardware store in the city’s suburban Willetton area. Authorities said they received calls from concerned members of the local Muslim community before the attack. The man was stable in a hospital, authorities said.

“At this stage it appears that he acted solely and alone,” Cook told a televised news conference in Perth.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he had been briefed on the incident by police and intelligence agencies, which advised there was no ongoing threat.

“We are a peace-loving nation and there is no place for violent extremism in Australia,” Albanese said on X.

My thoughts are with those who have been affected by the incident in the Perth suburb of Willetton overnight.

I have spoken with WA Premier Roger Cook this morning, and I thank the WA Police for acting swiftly to contain the incident.

— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) May 5, 2024

Police said members of the local Muslim community had made complaints about the boy’s behaviour just before the attack, helping to quickly identify him.

On Saturday night, the teenager appeared to have placed a call to the police, saying he was going to commit “acts of violence”. Police said they were later alerted by a phone call from a member of the public that a knife attack was under way in the car park.

Three police officers responded, one armed with a gun and two with tasers. The tasers failed to subdue the boy before he was killed by a single gunshot.

Syed Wadood Janud, the imam of Perth’s largest mosque, the Nasir Mosque, condemned the stabbing in a statement.

“There is no place for violence in Islam,” he said. “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.”

Saturday’s incident is the latest in a series of knife attacks in Australia in recent weeks.

Last month, New South Wales police charged several boys with terrorism-related offences in investigations following the stabbing of an Assyrian Christian bishop while he was giving a livestreamed sermon in Sydney.

The attack on the bishop came only days after a stabbing spree killed six in the Sydney beachside suburb of Bondi.

Gun and knife crime is rare in Australia, which consistently ranks among the safest countries in the world, according to the federal government.