An 18-year-old Narre Warren terror suspect has been shot dead by counter-terrorism police and two policemen have been stabbed in Endeavour Hills.
Police said the two officers met the 18-year-old man outside the Endeavour Hills police station before he lashed out at the officers with a sharp instrument. He then ran towards the police station and was shot.
Onlookers at the scene — who did not want to be named — said the dead man had been shouting insults at Prime Minister Tony Abbott and the Australian government in general in the moments before he was shot.
The Federal Government says the shooting occurred “in self defence” and the victim was a known terror suspect.
Counter-terrorism police did not consider the youth a major threat, which is why he was invited for a low key meeting outside a police station. But the youth was known to intelligence investigators due to his recent erratic behaviour.
Federal police sources say the AFP officer was stabbed multiple times in the face, shoulder and abdomen.
The two stabbed officers, one from Victoria Police and one from the Australian Federal Police, were working together as part of a joint operation on counter-terrorism between the AFP and Victoria Police. The operation is believed to have been running for the past two to three years.
It is understood the AFP officer had regained consciousness and he was “lucky to be alive”, the source said.
The Victorian police office, a senior constable in his late 30s, was stabbed in the arm.
It is understood the Victorian policeman was attacked first before the teenager turned on the federal police officer.
Police say the man was involved in an ongoing investigation, but AFP Commander Bruce Giles would not confirm whether the 18-year-old’s passport was among those that had been suspended, as had been reported.
However, he said, reports the man had been displaying Islamic State flags in the lead-up to police contacting him appeared to be correct.
Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Luke Cornelius said the man had been asked to come to the police station to discuss behaviour “which had been causing some concern”. When the man pulled up at the station he stabbed the two officers as they went to greet him.
“I want to make it very clear that the individual concerned who has died tonight was invited and did come of his own free will to the police station,” he said.
“Our members had no inkling this individual posed a threat to them and as far as we were concerned it was going to be an amicable discussion about that individual’s behaviour.
“It is also clear to us that individual has without any warning, produced a knife and assailed them with a knife.
“It’s absolutely clear to us our members had no choice but to act in the way that they did.”
Police sources said it was the Victorian officer who shot the man.
The federal officer was taken to The Alfred hospital in a critical condition with life-threatening injuries, but he is now in a stable condition, police said.
The Victorian officer was taken to nearby Dandenong Hospital in a less serious condition suffering stab wounds to the arms.
A bomb-disposal unit was called to the scene and inspected the car and the police station.
Homicide squad detectives are investigating the incident for the coroner, and Professional Standards Command members are overseeing the investigation.
A crowd of about 50 onlookers gathered about 10pm, and about a dozen officers directed onlookers to leave.
Premier Denis Napthine was briefed by the Chief Commissioner of Police, Ken Lay, on events.
Shafi Miya, who works at the petrol station opposite the Endeavour Hills police station, said he heard a shot fired sometime between 7.30pm and 8pm.
The outside of Endeavour Hills Police station was a hive of activity 12 hours after the shooting as police officers continued to investigate the circumstances surrounding Tuesday night’s tragic events.
About 15 vehicles were parked inside and near the area cordoned off by police tape, and a police caravan was set up to the side of the station.
A spokesman said the coroner arrived on scene about 7am to assist homicide detectives.
State Emergency Services crews have put up fencing to protect the crime scene, police spokesman Sergeant Kris Hamilton said, and an SES tent has been erected outside the police station.
Sergeant Hamilton said the forensics team arrived about 7.15am, and that it would take investigators some time to “process” the crime scene before the body can be removed.
Police believe a Nissan Pulsar parked outside the day care centre to the left of the police station is the dead teenager’s car.
Islamic Council of Victoria secretary Graith Krayem said he was disappointed that police had jumped to conclusions so quickly.
“I heard and I saw the press conference with the police last night and I’m a little disappointed. I think it was a little too preemptive. The police have come out very clearly and almost have said it’s all the young man’s fault,” he told radio station 3AW.
He said over time that may prove to be the case, but it was important for “proper processes” to play out.
The family of the young Muslim man were struggling, he said.
“We have passed on messages to the family offering our support.”
Mr Krayem confirmed that the teenager had recently had his passport cancelled.
He hit out at labels directed towards the Muslim community and said connections to ISIL were being overplayed.
“We have had this tendency recently to simply name people as radicals.”
He said this drove people to behave in ways “we find hard understand”.
“There is nobody who I am aware of in the last couple of months, in terms of who the police were looking at, who the police weren’t looking at well before now.”
He said the Muslim community felt “under siege” due to Senator Jacqui Lambie’s comments and “poor language” by the Prime Minister.
“All of this is just increasing the tension in the community.”
In a statement, the council said the incident highlighted a failure by the Australian Government to deal with alienation and disaffection.
The incident “on face value, should not have cost a young man his life and put two police officers in hospital”, the statement said.
“The tragedy highlights the real cost of a failure to deal with these serious issues and why we have made numerous calls on the Australian Government to deal with the root cause of alienation and disaffection of people such as this,” the statement said.
“This is not about laying blame but about a genuine need to identify the root causes and deal with them so that no further tragedies such as this occur again.”
The council said they were focusing on supporting the family of the teenager.
“There will be many questions that they will want answers to and in the fullness of time we expect the events of last night will become clearer.”
Political reaction
Federal Justice Minister Michael Keenan said on Wednesday that it appeared the police officer shot and killed the terror suspect “in self defence”.
He said the 18-year-old was a “known terror suspect”.
Mr Keenan confirmed the AFP officer was the most severely injured of the two and is in a “serious but stable condition”.
The AFP Acting Commissioner Andrew Colvin and Victorian Police Commissioner will update the media later today.
Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said the incident last night was “very concerning”.
He said Labor was waiting on more details before commenting further but his thoughts went out to the wounded AFP officer’s family.
Victoria’s terror threat unchanged
Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Tim Cartwright told Fairfax Media last Thursday the terror threat had not changed in Victoria, despite raids in Queensland and New South Wales.
Mr Cartwright said he and Chief Commissioner Ken Lay had met with senior sporting, tourism and event planning figures had discussed future operations at the Asian Cup and cricket World Cup, but did not discuss the threat of individuals acting alone.
While police have previously expressed concern about the possibility of “lone wolf” attacks, it remains unclear what level of planning had taken place before the Endeavour Hills stabbings.
Joint-terrorism task forces operate between local police and the AFP in every state and territory.
The largest recent operation conducted by the group in Victoria was raids on properties in the south-east associated with the Al-Furqan Islamic Information Centre in 2012.
The 18-year-old was not arrested during those raids, which resulted in one man being charged and at least 12 properties – including houses in Endeavour Hills and Narre Warren – being searched.
The Al-Furqan website had been operational last week, but was not available on Wednesday.
Police said at the time of the raids in 2012 that the centre had been encouraging extreme interpretations of Islam.
– With John Silvester, Latika Bourke, Alexandra Back, Patrick Begley
