Police in Western Australia have shot dead a boy after he stabbed a man in Perth, in an attack authorities said indicated terrorism.
There were signs the 16-year-old, armed with a kitchen knife, had been radicalised online, state authorities said, adding they received calls from concerned members of the local Muslim community before the attack, which occurred late on Saturday night.
The apparently random attack, in the car park of a hardware store in the suburb of Willetton, had “hallmarks” of terrorism but was yet to be declared a terrorist act, police said.
State Police Commissioner Col Blanch said when police were called to the car park, the youth lunged at officers with the knife and was shot.
“At this stage it appears that he acted solely and alone,” Western Australia Premier Roger Cook told a televised press conference in Perth, regarding the attacker.