Knife-wielding man shot dead by police in Australia

Sydney, Dec 3 (IANS/GURPUNEET SIDHU) A man who threatened police and the public with a knife was shot dead on Tuesday by officers in the Australian island state of Tasmania, police said.

Officers and emergency services personnel were called to the central business district of Launceston, the state’s second-largest city, to negotiate with the man at about 10 a.m. local time, Tasmania Police said, Xinhua news agency reported.

Assistant Commissioner Adrian Bodnar said that officers used capsicum spray against the man when he ignored directions to drop the knife and continued to advance toward police.

“A number of shots were fired by two attending police officers with two shots hitting the armed man in the chest,” Bodnar said.

First aid was administered to the man at the scene before he was taken to a nearby hospital in critical condition. He was pronounced dead shortly afterwards.

A police officer at the scene was hit in the cheek by a bullet and was hospitalised to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

Bodnar said that the man, who was known to police, initially threatened people at a business and then on the street.

A crime scene has been established where the man was shot and a police professional standards investigation into the incident has commenced.