A Police Force employee has been shot dead in a double shooting outside the state’s police headquarters. It is believed one of the victims is an IT worker for police and the other is an offender.
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Commissioner Andrew Scipione said while the identity of the lone gunman and his motive are still to be established, he isn’t ruling out a terrorist link.
“He was shot before (the) shooter was killed, ” they report”.
He was shot from behind, and was likely unaware of the killer’s presence, Scipione said.
A critical incident team will now investigate all circumstances surrounding the incident, police say. The police don’t have any information to suggest that the boy was acting with anyone else, he said.
Scipione said the employee was “deliberately targeted” by the gunman – who was wearing a “long pair of long pants and a flowing top” and appeared to be operating alone – although he did not give further details.
Malcolm Turnbull said in a separate news conference Saturday that governments and police are working together to ensure the security of the country after Friday’s “cold-blooded murder”.
The site of the shooting is located next to two schools and a childcare centre, as well as a scooter workshop popular with children in the afternoon.
Witnesses to the killing have told Australian media outlets they saw him running around in front of the police building with a handgun in the air shouting out “Allah!” Police helicopters are overhead at the scene.
Two people are believed to have been shot dead in Parramatta. He has spoken with the leaders of Islamic communities who have condemned the shooting and offered their full support. He reportedly went to the police station to discuss his cancelled passport. Five teenagers were arrested in pre-dawn raids.
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He added that every officer had been ordered to wear their guns on them at all times this week, even while at their desks.
