Australian police officers shoot dead a 16-year-old boy who was armed with a knife after stabbing a man in Perth

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A 16-year-old boy armed with a knife was shot dead by police after stabbing a man in Australia’s west coast city of Perth, officials said Sunday.

The incident happened on Saturday evening in the parking lot of a hardware store in suburban Willetton.

The teenager attacked the man and then lunged at police officers before being shot, Western Australian Prime Minister Roger Cook told reporters on Sunday.

“There is evidence that he was radicalized online,” Cook said at a news conference.

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

A man in his 30s was found at the scene with a stab wound to the back. He was taken to a hospital in serious but stable condition, a police statement said.

Police and Australian Secret Service agents have been conducting a counterterrorism investigation in the east coast city of Sydney since another 16-year-old boy stabbed an Assyrian Orthodox bishop and priest in a church on April 15.

This boy was charged with committing a terrorist act. Six of his alleged associates were also charged with a range of offenses including conspiring to participate in or plan a terrorist attack. All remain in custody.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he was briefed on the recent stabbing in Perth by Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw and ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess, the head of the country’s main domestic spy agency.

“I have been advised that based on the information available, there is no ongoing threat to the community,” Albanese said.

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

Police received a 911 call after 10pm from a teenager who said he was going to commit acts of violence, Western Australian Police Commissioner Col Blanch said.

The boy took part in a program for young people at risk of radicalization, Blanch added.

“I don’t want to say he has been radicalized or is being radicalized because I think that is part of the investigation,” he said.

Police said they were later alerted by a call from a citizen that a knife attack had occurred in the parking lot. Three police officers responded, one with a weapon and two with guided energy devices.

Police deployed both energy devices but were unable to incapacitate the boy before he was killed by a single shot, Blanch said.

Blanch said members of the local Muslim community had raised concerns with police about the boy’s behavior before he was killed on Saturday.

The imam of Perth’s largest mosque, the Nasir Mosque, condemned the knife attack.

“There is no place for violence in Islam,” Imam Syed Wadood Janud said in a statement.

“We appreciate the police’s efforts to keep our communities safe. I would also like to commend the local Muslim community who previously reported the person to the police,” Wadood added.

Some Muslim leaders have criticized Australian police for declaring last month’s church stabbing a terrorist attack rather than a shooting rampage two days earlier at a Sydney shopping center that killed six people and injured a dozen. The 40-year-old mall attacker was shot dead by police. Police have not yet released any information about the man’s motive.

The attack on a church is only the third since 2018 that Australian authorities have classified as a terrorist attack.

In December 2022, three Christian fundamentalists shot and killed two police officers and a passerby in an ambush near the township of Wieambilla in Queensland state. The shooters were later killed by police.

In November 2018, a Somali-born Muslim stabbed three pedestrians in inner-city Melbourne, killing one, before police shot him dead.