Australian police shoot dead teenager after he stabbed a man

A 16-year-old boy armed with a knife was shot dead by police after he stabbed a man in the Australian west coast city of Perth, officials have said.

The incident occurred in the parking lot of a hardware store in suburban Willetton on Saturday night.

The teen attacked the man and then rushed at police officers before he was shot, Western Australian Premier Roger Cook told reporters on Sunday.

“There are indications he had been radicalised online,” Cook told a news conference.

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

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

Police and Australian Security Intelligence Organisation 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.

'Peace-loving nation'

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he had been briefed on the latest stabbing in Perth by Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw and ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess, who heads the nation’s main domestic spy agency.

“I’m advised there is no ongoing threat to the community on the information available,” Albanese said. “We are a peace-loving nation and there is no place for violent extremism in Australia.”

Police received an emergency phone call after 10 pm (1400 GMT) from a teenager saying he was going to commit acts of violence, Western Australian Police Commissioner Col Blanch said.

The boy had been participating in a program for young people at risk of radicalisation, Blanch added.

“I don't want to say he has been radicalised or is radicalised because I think that forms part of the investigation,” he said.

Police said they were later alerted by a phone call from a member of the public that a knife attack was underway in the parking lot.

Three police officers responded, one armed with a gun and two with conducted energy devices.

Police deployed both conducted energy devices but they failed to incapacitate the boy before he was killed by a single gunshot, Blanch said.