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Details of the chaos and violence that struck Melbourne’s CBD on Friday evening have emerged, with police insisting the shooting of a man armed with a broken bottle was justified given the threat he posed to officers.
Victorian Police Transit and Public Safety Command Assistant Commissioner Dean McWhirter, speaking on Saturday afternoon, said two separate incidents merged around Princes Bridge near Flinders St Station, about 5.30pm.
At that time, a 27-year-old man on a tram allegedly attempted to rob a male and female passenger before exiting at the landmark CBD bridge.
The South Melbourne man then allegedly attacked four people with a bottle after leaving the tram – a 67-year-old Warneet man, a 56-year-old Collingwood woman, a 24-year-old Kennington woman and a 46-year-old Hoppers Crossing woman – and put all four in hospital with injuries including lacerations and bruising.
Police have justified shooting a man on Melbourne’s Princes Bridge on Friday saying he posed a threat to officers (pictured scene of the incident with emergency crews)
Two separate incidents merged around Princes Bridge near Flinders Street Station with officers and emergency crews remaining at the scene (pictured) well into the night
The police and protective service officers arrested the man and established a crime scene, Assistant Commissioner McWhirter said, before a second alleged offender, a 20-year-old Pakenham man, approached a PSO around 7pm.
The young man allegedly told the officer he was going to ‘harm him’ and the officer alerted a fellow PSO to the threat.
Assistant Commissioner McWhirter said the man was wearing a hoodie and held his hands in his pockets and when he showed his hands, he revealed a broken bottle.
The officers used OC spray on the young man, but it did not work because the man’s hoodie protected his face, Assistant Commissioner McWhirter said.
The man then pursued one of the PSOs for 20 metres before a PSO drew his firearm and fired two shots at the man, hitting him in the stomach, in what the police have called a justified response to an urgent threat.
‘A member was quite clearly going to be injured,’ Assistant Commissioner McWhirter said.
He said the situation had ‘evolved very quickly’ and ‘action had to be taken to avoid serious injury.’
Assistant Commissioner Dean McWhirter said officers (pictured) had to the take action as the situation ‘evolved very quickly’
Victorian paramedics, who were still on scene from the earlier incident, took the man to Alfred Hospital, where he will undergo surgery on Saturday night and remain in hospital for several days.
The man has non life-threatening injuries and he is expected to recover from his wound.
The police have confirmed two officers drew their firearms but only one fired shots.
‘The members are dealing with the situation OK,’ Assistant Commissioner McWhirter said.
‘It’s a traumatic situation for anybody.’
Multiple victims were injured when a man in another incident allegedly attacked four people while another man allegedly threatened to harm a PSO with a glass bottle (pictured investigators and police officers at the scene at Princes Bridge on Friday night)
The police said they had ‘no knowledge’ of the man and he did not have a prior criminal history.
The response of the officers and their decision-making process will be investigated by Crime Command.
‘By and large Melbourne is a very safe city,’ Assistant Commissioner McWhirter said
‘This is just an unfortunate incident.’
