A 16 year-old youth has been shot dead by Western Australia (WA) Police after he called Triple Zero and told them he planned to commit “acts of violence.” He then went on to allegedly attack a man with a knife in a car park in a Bunnings car park on High Road in the southern Perth suburb of Willetton just after 10 p.m. yesterday (May 4).
A second Triple Zero call was made by a member of the public who saw the teen running around the car park wielding a knife.
More than 30 emergency services vehicles arrived on the scene to find a young Caucasian male brandishing a large kitchen knife, Police Commissioner Col Blanch said.
“They challenged the male to put down the knife, [with] which he did not comply.”
Officers fired two tasers, but neither had “the full desired effect,” Mr. Blanch said.
Enrolled in Anti-Extremism Program
The Commissioner said the alleged attacker was known to police and had both “mental health issues and radicalisation issues.”
He said the young male was attending the Countering Violent Extremism program and was supported by psychologists and faith leaders.
WA Police Minister Paul Papalia says the fact the boy was in the program shows just how challenging it is to “de-radicalise people.”
“It is a really tough task and none of the programs that have been attempted anywhere have been universally successful,” he said.
“They are confronting. [It is] a really serious challenge in changing someone who’s been radicalised and attempting them to get back into a more reasonable pathway.
“It is a good program in that regard, because in the absence of it, there’s no response to that sort of thing, but also to be part of it, you’re not necessarily a criminal. You haven’t engaged necessarily in any criminal activity.
“This individual may not have done anything that would have enabled police to do anything other than get him into this program.”
WA Premier Roger Cook said that, while the alleged offender was radicalised online by extremist ideology, he acted alone and it was not being declared a terrorist event. He has called a meeting with leaders of various faiths, which he will attend later today.
Not a Terrorist Attack ‘at this stage’: Commissioner
Commissioner Blanch confirmed the incident was not being labelled as a terrorist attack at this stage.“It certainly has the hallmarks of one, and the reason why I would declare it as a terrorist act going forward, it’s about timing,” he said.
“If I need extra capability, particularly from the Commonwealth, sometimes you'll see terrorist acts being claimed very early or declared very early.
“I believe this is a person acting alone … I don’t need additional capability at this time whilst it meets the criteria, or at least the definition.
“That’s something that we can work towards as we find out more information from the motivations behind this.”
The victim is currently in hospital with a stab wound to the back, in a serious but stable condition. It is believed he sustained a two-centimetre stab wound to the back that may have punctured a lung.
