2024-05-06 07:08:57
A 16-year-old “radicalized” teenager was shot dead by the police after injuring a person in a knife attack in the capital of the Australian state of Western Australia – Perth, BTA reported.
The assailant, whose name has not been mentioned, “rushed” with the knife in his hand and towards the police officers who arrived at the scene, after which he was fatally shot by one of them. This was stated to journalists by the Prime Minister of the state of Western Australia – Roger Cook, quoted by AFP.
Cook added that according to initial police information, the young man had been “radicalized” on the Internet.
Reuters specifies that the attacker was armed with a kitchen knife. Authorities said they had received reports from disturbed people in the local Muslim community before the attack, which took place late on Saturday night in the Perth neighborhood of Willeton.
Police said the attack had “signs” of terrorism but could not yet be classified as an act of terrorism.
“It appears at this stage that the boy acted on his own initiative and alone,” Cook said. The victim, who was stabbed in the back, is in hospital in stable condition.
The Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese, wrote on the social platform “X” that he was informed about the case by the police, from where they convinced him that the threat had been eliminated.
“We are a peaceful nation and there is no place for violent extremism in Australia,” the prime minister said in X.