A 16-year-old boy wielding a knife has been shot dead by a WA Police officer after a man was stabbed in the back in a targeted attack in Willetton on Saturday night.
Officers had been called to the carpark outside Bunnings Willetton on Saturday after 10pm, where they found the teenager holding the knife.
Police Commissioner Col Blanch said two officers withdrew their Tasers, while a third took out their firearm, confronting the lone teenager.
After officers called for the teenager to put down his weapon, understood to be a 30cm kitchen knife, Commissioner Blanch said the 16-year-old rushed the officers, who deployed both their Tasers.
When the boy turned on the third police officer, he discharged his firearm, fatally wounding the teenager.
Commissioner Blanch said the teenager, who acted alone, rang triple-zero himself to warn police.
Commissioner Blanch said the boy, who was known to police, had mental health issues, and may have been radicalised online. He was also one of a handful of teenagers in WA participating in a police deradicalisation program.
“We continue to receive multiple calls to triple zero from members of the Muslim community that had concerns and that went both before and after the incident,” Commissioner Blanch said.
“(The teenager) posted something online to make them concerned but we believe he sent relevant messages to some of those members who immediately responded by calling police and again, I do want to thank members of the Muslim community who did that because that enabled us to identify rapidly who this individual was and respond as quick as we need to look at.”
Speaking at a press conference on Sunday morning, Premier Roger Cook praised members of Perth’s Muslim community who had contacted police to warn about the boy’s radicalisation online.
“Our police responded within minutes they encountered a very confronting situation but their rapid and professional response kept our community safe.
“I’ve called a meeting of the multi-faith community leaders which I will attend later today.
“My heart goes out to everyone affected by this incident
At the scene on Sunday morning, a sausage sizzle volunteer at Bunnings, who did not want to be identified, said police were at the scene until about 7.30am and told him the incident involved a “race-related dispute”.
A pool of blood could still be seen in a car bay next to High Road, despite being washed down by officers.
The pair of men involved had apparently emerged from the nearby Zap gym and argued as they moved through the Bunnings carpark, he said.
“They were yelling out at each other then next minute there’s a stabbing,” he said.