Deadly Melbourne siege was a ‘terrorism incident’
UPDATE: Victoria Police are treating Monday’s deadly Melbourne siege as a terrorist incident as Islamic State claims the gunman was one of its “soldiers”.
One man was killed, three police officers injured and the gunman shot dead after a standoff at an apartment building in the Bayside suburb of Brighton, in which a woman was taken hostage.
As police work to establish whether the gunman – identified as 29-year-old Somali-born refugee Yacqub Khayre – was part of a wider plot, the Prime Minister has attacked the Victorian justice system that allowed him to walk free.
IS on Tuesday morning blamed the attack on Australia’s membership in the US-led coalition against the militant group.
Khayre was accused of a terror plot against the Holsworthy army barracks in 2009.
“The attack in Melbourne, Australia was carried out by a soldier of the Islamic State in response to the call for targeting the subjects of the coalition states,” the IS Amaq news agency said.
Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton told a media conference Tuesday morning that counter-terror police have been investigating the incident.
“He is someone that was known to us as having a long criminal history, a whole range of offending, going back many years,” Commissioner Ashton said.
“Most recently he’s done some prison time in relation to reckless intent to cause injury, and whilst in prison was processed as well for arson whilst in the corrections system.”
Commissioner Ashton said Khayre was released on parole in November
The siege began at the Buckingham Serviced Apartments on Bay Street shortly after 4pm when emergency services responded to reports of an explosion.
Khayre, armed with a sawn-off shotgun was shot dead in a shootout after a stand-off that lasted more than an hour.
Commissioner Ashton said police were investigating whether the siege was part of a wider plot.
“We’re aware of [Islamic State] having claimed responsibility, but then they always tend to jump up and claim responsibility every time something happens,” he said.
“… But he’s also made statements last night around [rival organisation] al-Qaeda.”
Two officers – including one with wounds to his face and neck – were taken to hospital while a third was treated at the scene.
A female escort held hostage was rescued from the ground floor apartment.
Officers had earlier found the body of a clerk, an Australian national born in China, in the foyer.
“He appears to (have been) in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Commissioner Ashton said.
He said it was too early to know what Khayre had been planning, but said it was a “possibility” that he wanted to ambush police.
“That’s all been weighed into the calculations but we haven’t found anything like a note or anything like that so far.”
The Seven Network took a phone call at its Melbourne newsroom at 5.41pm Monday from a woman who said she was being held hostage, before a man, since identified as Khayre, came on the line saying “This is for IS, this is for al-Qaeda”.
The bomb squad was investigating suspicious packages found in the apartment building on Monday night, and Bay Street is expected to be closed throughout Tuesday as investigations continue.
The bomb squad investigated the apartments after ‘suspicious packages’ were found. Photo: Sky News
“Police arrived not long after 4pm and at that stage located a deceased male at the serviced apartments,” Assistant Commissioner Andrew Crisp from Victoria Police said.
“A short time later a phone call was made to triple-0 by a female stating there was a hostage situation and a deceased male.”
Reinforcements and specialist police were then called in, he said.
“Just before 6pm whilst police resources were in the vicinity of the serviced apartments, a male has exited one of the serviced apartments and began firing at police members,” Assistant Commissioner Crisp said.
“Police members returned fire and as a result of that fire the man who exited the service apartments was fatally shot.”
Two police officers were taken to hospital and one was treated at the scene.
Their injuries are not life-threatening, however one officer underwent surgery for a serious hand injury and another requires an operation for facial wounds.
Specialist police were at the apartment block in Bay Street. Photo: ABC
Police have confirmed the woman held hostage was a 36-year-old Colombian national, living and working in Australia.
The man of Chinese background, 36, who was killed by the gunman was a new father and had recently married, according to police. he was working as a receptionist in the foyer of the building at the time of the attack.
Witnesses reported hearing a volley of gunshots just after 6pm and police urged pedestrians to take cover in a nearby supermarket.
Deputy Commissioner Crisp said police had no contact with Khayre during the siege and only received one call from the woman who was held hostage.
Will Reid, who lives around the corner from the apartment block, described the scene as frightening.
“I got told there was an explosion around 4pm. I hung around for a while and I heard gunshots, about 10 shots, and we got told it was a hostage situation,” he said.
“We got pushed back into the Coles [supermarket] and got told to not move, basically.
– With ABC