Three men have been shot by police in two separate and unrelated incidents – with two fighting for their lives in hospital – in Sydney and Melbourne.
Acting assistant commissioner Paul Dunstan said at about 12.10pm on Friday, officers responding to a report of a stolen car in a Wentworthville car park in Sydney’s west, fired their guns at the vehicle after it was allegedly driven at them.
The pair were discovered as a result of an in-vehicle tracker which led police to the car with the assistance of its owner, later confirmed to be the husband of the Labor MP for Penrith, Karen McKeown.
“[The police] found a locked garage door with a car inside … as they’ve opened that garage door, the vehicle has immediately accelerated towards them,” Dunstan said.
“As a result, police drew their firearms and were required to fire a number of shots.”
Officers then rendered first aid to the two men until the arrival of NSW Ambulance paramedics, police said. The men were transported to Westmead hospital, where one man remained in a “very serious” condition on Friday afternoon and the second in a serious but stable condition.
Police said the five officers on the scene were not injured in the incident. Three shot their firearms and were assisting police with their inquiries. Asked whether their show of force was warranted, Dunstan said it was “still too early to comment”.
A critical incident investigation was ongoing, Dunstan confirmed. The NSW police commissioner, Karen Webb, told reporters earlier on Friday that it would be subject to an independent review.
Earlier on Friday, a man was shot by police in a separate and unrelated incident in Hillside in Melbourne’s north-west after a fatal stabbing.
Det Insp Dean Thomas said it was being treated as a family violence incident involving an altercation between the offender and his father.
He alleged the offender was living at another address and arrived at his 61-year-old father’s home early Friday morning “unannounced and unexpected”. A 27-year-old woman, believed to be the sister of the alleged offender, was also on the scene and called triple zero.
Thomas said police arrived just after 7am to find the critically injured 61-year-old on the front lawn, alleged to have been stabbed by the offender with a knife or axe.
Police attempted CPR until they heard a scream from inside the house. Upon entering, they were allegedly confronted by a man armed with a knife.
A shot was fired and police officers retreated out the front door, while the heavily pregnant 27-year-old woman fled through the rear door. She appeared uninjured but had been transported to hospital as a precaution, Thomas said.
Thomas alleged shortly after, the armed man came outside and confronted police, who instructed him to put his weapon down and surrender. Thomas alleged the man made his way down the street under police pursuit and stabbed a police car tyre.
“After that he advanced on one of our members – again they were engaging with him to drop the knife, and several shots were fired by one of our members which hit the offender,” Thomas alleged. “He dropped to the ground and was taken into custody.”
The man was being treated for lower body injuries in a critical but stable condition at Royal Melbourne hospital.
Thomas said while it was early in the investigation, he had spoken to the police involved and viewed body-worn camera footage and believed they had done “everything they could and followed policy”.
“It was a very confronting, distressing scene for our members to turn up to,” he said. “Nobody comes to work wanting to be involved in an incident like that.”
Thomas said the offender was known to police and had active intervention orders in place. He said the man also had a psychiatric history.
The incident was being investigated by homicide squad detectives and Victoria’s armed crime squad and professional standards command, which police said was standard practice after a shooting.
In a statement following the Sydney incident, McKeown alleged her home was broken into on Thursday evening and her husband’s car was stolen. She said she reported the incident to the police.
“While I am shaken from the events, thankfully I am unharmed,” she said.
“I want to thank NSW police, in particular the local area command at both Penrith and Cumberland police for their prompt response.
“Political leaders often praise police for their bravery. Today, I have had a first-hand experience of this.”
