Australian police kill ‘radicalized’ teen knifeman

The officers have neutralized the assailant who had carried out a stabbing attack in Perth

Australian police have shot dead a 16-year-old suspect who stabbed a member of the public at a car park in Perth on Saturday and then charged towards the officers.

“There are indications he had been radicalized online,” Western Australia Premier Roger Cook said at a news conference on Sunday. He added that “it appears he acted solely and alone.”

The stabbing took place at around 10 am local time at the Bunnings carpark in Willetton, a southern suburb of Perth.

Western Australian Police Commissioner Col Blanch told reporters that the suspect was “a Caucasian male,” who had converted to Islam. He called the police himself, warning that he was about to commit an unspecified “act of violence.”

Shortly after, police received another call, alerting that a “male with a knife was running around the car park.”

The assailant had managed to stab a man in his 30s in the back before the officers arrived. The victim has been hospitalized and is in stable condition.

According to Blanch, the attacker had mental health issues and was undergoing a police deradicalization course. The police chief added that the authorities were alerted by the local Muslim community shortly before the stabbing happened. 

“[The attacker] posted something online to make them concerned but we believe he sent relevant messages to some of those members who immediately responded by calling the police,” Blanch said.

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“My thoughts are with those who have been affected by the incident in the Perth suburb of Willetton overnight,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese wrote on X (formerly Twitter). He thanked the police “for acting swiftly to contain the incident.”

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

The incident in Perth occurred less than a month after a man suffering from mental health problems went on a stabbing rampage inside a shopping mall in Sydney, killing six people and injuring 12.

Also in April, a 16-year-old armed with a knife attacked a Christian church in Wakeley, a suburb of Sydney, injuring its bishop and two worshippers.