Police shot dead a man who had taken a woman hostage in Melbourne today, in a suspected terror-related attack in which three police were injured as they fought to end the siege. The gunman died in a hail of police bullets after a second man was found dead in the foyer of an apartment building in the suburb of Brighton.
Before police moved in, a male caller to the Channel 7 television newsroom in Melbourne said: “This is for IS” and “this is for al-Qaeda”. Staff at the station said that a woman could be heard screaming in the background.
A statement from Victoria police confirmed that they were investigating whether the incident was terrorism- related.
The gunman, believed to be known to counter-terrorism police, held the woman hostage for about two hours before he was shot dead by police at 6pm. There were reports of more than 20 gun shots and police ordered everyone in the area into a supermarket, the Herald Sun newspaper reported.
The first police on the scene arrived to find a body in the foyer of the Bay Street apartment block. A witness, Ben Vieth, was standing on his balcony about 500ft from the scene when gunfire erupted just after 6pm.
Advertisement
“Next minute we heard the machinegun go off,’’ he said. “It was absolutely terrifying. It went for probably three or four seconds — just constant fire.
“The police were just screaming at people to run and take cover. People were just ducking and running. I was just in shock — I couldn’t stand up. It was full-on,” he said.
“The noise was just deafening. It wasn’t a couple of shots. It sounded like 20 or 30 shots.”
Police then entered negotiations with a man in one of the apartments who had a female hostage with him.
A witness told the newspaper that police shot the man suspected to be holding the woman.
Advertisement
In December, Melbourne police swooped on five men planning to detonate improvised explosive devices in the city’s business district. Police said the suspects were believed to have been inspired by Islamic State.