Indian Accused Of Stabbing Man Shot Dead By Australian Cops

As per media reports, two police officers fired at Ahmed when they were leaving the police station and were confronted by Ahmed who tried to attack them.

Indian national was shot dead by Australian Police in Sydney (Representational Image)

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A 32-year-old Indian national was shot dead by the Australian Police on Tuesday after he allegedly stabbed a cleaner at a railway station in Sydney and threatened law enforcement officers, reported news agency PTI. The Consulate General of India in Sydney identified Mohamed Rahmathullah Syed Ahmed, from Tamil Nadu, as the man who was fatally shot by the police. 

Ahmed allegedly attacked a 28-year-old cleaner at the Auburn train station in Sydney on Tuesday before arriving at Auburn police station, Sydney Morning Herald newspaper quoted police officials as saying.

Two police officers were leaving the police station when they were confronted by Ahmed who tried to attack them, the report added. 

Three shots were fired by a police officer, of which two hit Ahmed in the chest, the report said, adding that a probationary officer used her Taser on him. He was immediately treated at the scene by paramedics and rushed to the hospital but was pronounced dead, it said.

As per the report, Ahmed previously had five interactions with the police but all of them were non-criminal and related to Covid-19. 

Ahmed was living in Australia on a bridging visa. 

At a press conference on Tuesday, New South Wales Police Assistant Commissioner Stuart Smith said the officers had just seconds to respond and were left with no choice but to shoot Ahmed.

“I fully support these officers. It’s traumatic. It’s a significant incident at one of our police stations,” he said.

“There just isn’t an impending time. It is immediate. He launches through the glass doors at the officers; they had very little time to react," he said.

Meanwhile the police, who met the cleaner at a local hospital Melbourne where he was admitted, said that his condition was stable. 

The two men were not known to each other, the report said, quoting police officials.

“We’re working through him and his family in getting his version and it will be part of the critical incident,” he said.

The Consulate General of India said Ahmed was identified as a suspect in the stabbing incident at Auburn Railway Station, and it was providing all possible assistance to the police.

“We ask for a complete report on the circumstances of the shooting of an Indian national,” the consulate added.