Australians, what do think of the killing of a Melbourne teenager?

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rustupd

cops had no choice
that is why they all should carry tazers

Chantelle

It would seem the Victorian police are reverting back to their old ways.

holly

Well it's a very sad situation when a number of police can't handle a fifteen year old with a knife but instead find it easier to shoot him to death.

Dan

The story just annoys me. They didn't fire once but 6-7 times. Guns should be primarily used to stop the suspect(s) from running off and not really to kill unless as a last resort. It's even more annoying how they can't even handle a 15 year old boy as opposed to adults and ended up shooting him to death. The family should be compensated for in my opinion. This is a disgrace to the rest of the Australian Police who during other times are frowned upon.

... and please show some respect! No thumbs-downs!

oceangirl78

I think that cops should be trained better to handle situations like these.I simply don't trust the professionalism of cops.More training is required so that these situations do not occur.

Kirra

There is no justification for it. Three armed police officers against a kid with a knife. How is that justifiable?

Why couldn't they have shot him in the knee, or the hand?

Also to the poster above about the boys parents, imagine if your son was just shot dead. Have some sympathy. For all you know that boy could have had an undiagnosed mental illness.

ETA:- Jonquill, I stated "undiagnosed" mental illness... The boy had lost his father, I think that qualifies for grief stricken at the least. Self defence and protecting the public would have taken one bullet. ONE not six.

Liz R

I dont think it was entirely the cops fault, i think they could have handled it a little better.
Also, what 15 yr old carries knifes around?

ayelbee

If anyone watched news reports tonight you would have learnt that the boy recently lost his father and was having an extremely difficult time adjusting.

He had, apparently and according to the television news, contacted 000 twice before he began threatening police. Reports have said that he told the operator he wanted to suicide and had links to white supremists although his mother has denied that.

I doubt that, unless you were there, anyone could accurately say what happened and who was at fault.

The police have to do a job and that is to protect the public. Imagine if the kid had have been running around trying to stab people? Should the police just ignore this? From what I have read and heard he made repeated attacks at officers and tried to stab them.

I am so very sorry for this boy and his family but if the police were at fault it will come out at the coroners inquiry.

Tukmyhamster

The police's first duty is to defend themselves, so if their lives were threatened they acted correctly in shooting him.

Funny isn't it, now he has been killed his family is bemoaning the loss "of our beautiful 15-year-old." maybe if they had raised him a little better he wouldn't have been stealing knives and carrying on like a loony.

Edit
If the kid had mental illness he should have been receiving treatment. The cops are not supposed to aim for knees, it the situation is life threatening they are supposed to aim to kill, not to muck about. Anyway they already fired warning shots.

I bet if it was you or your kids that he was threatening to kill you would have been damn grateful that he was shot.
And it's probably saved 50 years of criminal activity and the cost to the taxpayer of keeping the little mongrel in jail.

The cops should have been trained better. I think any strong police officer should be able to overpower a 15yr old boy. However, we we weren't there so it could have been frightening. Also, cops rarely fire their guns here so they must have a good reason. I'm waiting for the coroners report before making more of a judgement.

Warren S

The police did everything possible short of giving up their own lives to subdue him. The fault lay with the teenager as anyone over eight knows that if you threaten another persons life with lethal weapons, you put your own in jeopardy. We are lucky to have such police to protect society and they must be supported.

Ozmaniac

The police had already used capsicum spray on him and he was still threatening to kill them with two large knives that he had stolen earlier. The kid was coming at the police with the knives and was apparently in a really crazy state according to witnesses. It's a pity that the cops didn't have tazers so that he could have been handled in a non-lethal way, but it's too much to ask them to put their lives on the line trying to subdue someone like that. It does look though that they may have gone somewhat overboard - one person shooting would probably have done the trick, but who knows? I'm certainly not going to judge them when I've never been in that situation.

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