One person has been shot dead and two police officers have been stabbed after an incident in Melbourne.
MUSLIM leaders called for a full investigation into the fatal shooting of a teenage Muslim man after he stabbed two counter-terrorism officers in Melbourne last night.
The 18-year-old Narre Warren man, named as Numan Haider, who was shot dead outside Endeavour Hills police station, was a “known terror suspect”, Justice Minister Michael Keenan said this morning.
The AFP officer was stabbed a number of times, and the Victorian police officer was stabbed twice in the arm before he shot the man dead.
This is the face of the suspected terrorist shot dead last night, confirmed as Numan Haider. Picture: Facebook Source: HeraldSun
Ghaith Krayem, Secretary of the Islamic Council of Victoria, said he was a “little disappointed” with the police press conference after the incident.
“I think it was a little bit pre-emptive,” he told 3AW radio.
“The police have come out very clearly and almost have said it was the young man’s fault, and I don’t know in the fall of time that may prove to be the case, but I think within a couple of hours I was disappointed.
“I think we need to allow the processes to play out and the facts to be known because the family quite frankly is really struggling.”
Mr Krayem said the man had been involved with Al-Furqan, a group raided by police in Melbourne’s southeast in 2012, but had not had recent contact with them.
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It comes as a senior Muslim leader said gangs were “mosque jumping” to recruit new members to their hate groups.
“They are a cancer group,” the leader said.
“They are a dangerous group and are moving to extremism.
“We know a few Afghanis have been brainwashed by this group.”
He said authorities had been made aware of this gang but had not done enough to stop their behaviour.
Forensic police at the scene outside Endeavour Hills police station. Picture: Nicole Garmston Source: News Corp Australia
Detectives at the scene. Picture: Nicole Garmston Source: News Corp Australia
The Islamic Council of Victoria expressed “deep sorrow” over the incident, which left the officers in hospital in a stable condition.
They said the shooting highlighted the importance of dealing with alienation.
“There needs to be a full and objective investigation into this incident to ensure that such a tragedy is never repeated,” the council said in a statement today.
“This tragedy highlights the real cost of a failure to deal with these serious issues and why we have made numerous calls on the Australian government to deal with the root causes of alienation and disaffection of people such as this.”
Mr Krayem confirmed the police had previous dealings with the teenager.
“I guess the point of that is that we’ve seen recently there is a tendency to label people radicals or extremists ... and those labels have become a way for us not to look into the underlying causes that lead into someone — he’s only 18 — to get to a point where they are behaving in ways that the rest of us find hard to understand,” he told 3AW.
“It’s easy once you label someone to not really question what’s going on.”
Mr Krayem said there was a level of “frustration and anxiety” in the Muslim community.
“The community over the past couple of months has felt more and more under siege,” he said.
“There’s Senator Lambie making comments, we have poor language by the Prime Minister which we’ve had to call out, all of this is just increasing the tension in the community.
“When people are scared and anxious, and I’m talking everybody out there, then it will get to a point where we filter what we see, hear, and respond in ways that they wouldn’t normally respond.”
The council said it would support the man’s family.
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