MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A 16-year-old boy who was shot dead by police after stabbing a man in the Australian west coast city of Perth had been engaged in a deradicalization program since he detonated a homemade explosive device in a school toilet block two years ago, police said on Tuesday.
The boy had injured a man with a kitchen knife in a hardware store parking lot on Saturday night before police killed him with a single shot. The boy had told associates in a text message: “I am going on the path of jihad tonight for the sake of Allah.”
It was the third high-profile knife crime to shock Australia in recent weeks after two Assyrian Orthodox clerics were injured in a Sydney church and a Sydney shopping mall rampage in which six people were killed and another dozen were wounded.
Western Australia Police Commissioner Col Blanch said the boy killed in Perth had been a voluntary participant of the federally funded Countering Violent Extremism program since 2022 when he caused an explosion at a toilet at the Rossmoyne Senior High School, which he attended. The boy had received treatment for mental health issues as well as extremist inclinations.
How the late Queen's 'favourite' daughter
Scoop review: Netflix's Prince Andrew drama divides critics
Harrison Ford rocks out with wife Calista Flockhart at Jimmy Buffet tribute concert in LA
Best quotes from Harry and Meghan's shocking Oprah interview
Trump hush money trial: Prosecutors move deeper into ex
Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh step in for cancer
Apple makes a major change that makes it significantly cheaper and easier to repair broken iPhones
Hugh Jackman shares heartwarming family birth
Russian journalist arrested for years
Distressing moment horse is rescued after falling into a Florida pond