Perth police shoot 16yo dead after stabbing in Bunnings car park

Police have shot dead 16-year-old boy who stabbed another man with a kitchen knife in Perth, saying the teenager was “radicalised” online.

WA Police said they received an emergency call just after 10pm on Saturday from a teen saying he was going to commit acts of violence.

A second triple-zero call was made a short time later after reports a man had been stabbed in the car park of a Bunnings store in Willetton, in Perth’s southern suburbs.

Police Commissioner Col Blanch said when they arrived, they found a 16-year-old armed with a large kitchen knife.

Commissioner Blanch said the boy lunged at officers with the knife and was shot.

He died a short time later in hospital.

The police commissioner and WA Premier Roger Cook held a press conference on Sunday morning and described the incident as “extremely confronting”.

They said the boy was “running around a car park, armed with a knife” before stabbing another man not known to him in the back, in what appeared to be a random attack.

“They [WA police] exited their vehicle and were confronted with a male alone with a large kitchen knife,” Commissioner Blanch said.

“Two officers drew their tasers and one of the officers drew his firearm.

“They challenged the male to put down the knife, which he did not.”

Blanch said the body-cam footage he watched showed the 16-year-old rushing one of the officers with the knife before both officers deployed their tasers.

“Both of them didn’t have the full desired effect, and the male continued to advance on the third officer with the firearm, who fired a single shot and fatally wounded the male.”

Was this terrorism?

Cook said there were indications the boy had been radicalised online.

“But I want to reassure the community at this stage it appears that he acted solely and alone,” Cook said.

“Members of the WA Muslim community, who were concerned by his behaviour, contacted police prior to the incident and I thank them for their help.”

Commissioner Blanch said 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,” Blanch 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.”

Blanch said the teen was known to police and was part of a program designed to help individuals at risk of being radicalised.

“We are dealing with complex issues with this 16-year-old male – both mental health issues but also online radicalisation issues,” he said.

“He is known to police, but we believe he very much is acting alone.”

‘No place for violent extremism in Australia’

In a statement, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese thanked the police for acting quickly to contain the incident.

He said he had been briefed by the heads of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation and the Australian Federal Police.

“I’m advised there is no ongoing threat to the community on the information available,” he said.

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

– ABC with RNZ