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POLICE-AUSTRALIA
Man shot dead by police in Australia stabbing spree
SYDNEY, May 1, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – A man was shot dead by police after
slashing several people at a shopping centre in Australia’s northwestern
Pilbara region on Friday.
According to police, the man stabbed one person at a motel and another
outside a McDonald’s in the city of Port Hedland before attacking five people
at the mall.
Western Australia police said officers shot and killed the man, aged in
his early 30s, when tastes failed to subdue him.
“This was a very confronting and dangerous situation,” WA Police
Commissioner Chris Dawson told media on Friday.
The attack was not believed to be terror related. The man would fly in to
the city from Perth to work and then fly out again, Dawson said.
Witnesses said the man attacked people at random, including a woman
pushing a pram, as he ran through the shopping centre with a large knife.
“A lady was screaming and then this man was running, (he) ran passed me
and then pretty much just stabbed me,” Esther Brooks, who had been injured in
the attack, told Nine News.
Five people had been reportedly taken to hospital. All were in a stable
condition.
WA Premier Mark McGowan described the attack as a “tragic and awful set of
events”.
“All of our thoughts go to those people who have been hurt and all of our
thoughts and appreciation go to those police officers,” he said.
BSS/AFP/MRU/1723hrs