What radicalised teen told cops moments before he was shot dead

07/05/2024

Student James shot by police on Saturday
He had extremist ideologies and stabbed a man

A radicalised teen shot dead by police reportedly made references to Palestine and warned that he was going to kill all men in the vicinity during a triple-0 call in his harrowing final minutes.

The teen, who has been identified by his first name ‘James’, stabbed a man in the Willetton Bunnings carpark in Perth’s south on Saturday night.

Armed with a large knife, he then lunged at three police officers, who then shot the boy dead after they were unable to stop him with Tasers.

It has since been reported that five minutes prior before the incident, James rang police and made references to the federal government’s support for Israel.

James also declared that he intended to kill all men in the vicinity, The West Australian reported.

Western Australian Police Commissioner Col Blanch said that it was still unknown whether the war in Gaza may have motivated the teen.

what radicalised teen told cops moments before he was shot dead

James reportedly made references to Palestine and warned that he was going to kill all men in a triple-0 call minutes before his death

The teen, who has been identified as ‘James’ (pictured several years ago), stabbed a man in the Willetton Bunnings carpark in Perth ‘s south on Saturday night before he was hot dead by police

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‘I think that is the subject of the investigation at the moment, is what caused him to take those actions on the night’ Commissioner Blanch said on Tuesday.

‘Something happened on that night that we have to determine what that was and we don’t know.’

He remains confident that James acted alone.

‘We have no intelligence that says anyone is connected to him in relation to those actions … I am confident at this time where we are in the investigation that he was acting alone,’ Commissioner Blanch said.

While police are yet to designate the incident as a terrorist act despite its ‘hallmarks’, it hasn’t been ruled it out in the future.

‘It meets the definition of a terrorist act,’ Commissioner Blanch added.

There was a heavy police presence at the teenager’s mother’s house on Tuesday.

Some of the boy’s phones and other electronic devices have been seized by police.

His family were said to be ‘extremely emotional’.

It comes after police were forced to investigate threats to Rossmoyne Senior High School, where James was a student, after threats of violence were made online – later found to be a hoax.

The disturbing messages were sent through the school’s internal forum for students and teachers on Monday night.

Now it has emerged that around five minutes before James (pictured) stabbed the man, he rang police and made references to the Australian government’s support for Israel and also said he intended to kill all men in the vicinity

They include: ‘All I’m saying is Allahu Ahkbar I will kill the n…… tomorrow’ and ‘the reason I threw up gang signs in my photos is cause I always planned to shoot up at the school and f… all the n…… c… you are all going to get punished for what you have said to me in school we will prevail’.

WA Policing Minister Paul Papalia has since confirmed that the messages were a sick prank.

School’s principal Alan Brown had previously labelled the messages a ‘hoax’ and blamed a ‘hacking incident’.

‘As many of you are aware there are some inappropriate messages circulating amongst students and in the community,’ he said in an email on Tuesday, obtained by The West.

‘It has been confirmed that there has been a hacking incident and the messages have not originated from a student.

‘Police have been notified and are investigating the matter and have confirmed there is no additional threat to the school or our students.’

Several parents chose to keep their children home from school on Tuesday following the messages.

Six police cars and multiple officers were seen outside the school on Tuesday morning.

‘My son isn’t at school today and a lot of his friends, they’re frightened,’ one parent told Nine News.

A second mum added: ‘It shouldn’t come to something like this for them to have to do something.

‘They’re [students] genuinely fearing – they just don’t understand what’s going to happen next.’

A series of disturbing messages (pictured) were posted to the school’s internal forum on Monday night

The messages (pictured) threatened to ‘shoot up’ the school but the principal has declared them a hoax

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One parent, upon leaving a meeting with the principal at the school, told reporters that authorities would not tell parents if other youths that are part of a group of known extremists attended the school or where they were located.

‘The Department of Education will not give out that information,’ she said.

The parent said they had been told the school had done everything it could to ensure students’ safety and that it was ‘no concern’ that the student had remained at the school after he detonated a homemade bomb that destroyed a toilet block.

‘We had a known extremist that brought a bomb to school,’ she said.

‘They knew he was an extremist before the bomb, he had been an extremist in a program for about four years now, the bomb happened last year.’

She said students at the high school and other schools nearby felt scared, and if authorities were to wait until something happened to act, it would be too late.

It also emerged on Tuesday that group of parents had warned that a Muslim prayer room at the school was being used to spread extremist ideologies.

The parents of a Rossmoyne student wrote to West Australian Education Minister Tony Buti and other elected officials to raise fears about attempts by other students to radicalise their son, just a month before the teenager’s attack, The Australian reported.

The 16-year-old boy was shot dead by police in Perth on Saturday after stabbing a man in the back (pictured, emergency services at the scene)

They also raised concerns that a group of Muslim converts at the school were using a dedicated prayer room as a meeting place in which to try to recruit more children after finding a series of texts on his son’s phone.

The family has since started an online petition calling for the removal of prayer rooms from all state schools in WA, describing them as ‘divisive, exclusionary, and contrary to the principles of secular education’.

‘This practice not only undermines the diverse fabric of our society but also violates the fundamental rights of students to receive an education free from religious influence,’ the petition said.

‘Moreover, the promotion of religious activities within public schools perpetuates societal divisions and contributes to the alienation and marginalisation of certain religious and cultural groups, thereby fostering religious radicalisation among impressionable students.’

The petition since garnered more than 600 signatures.

Shortly before he was shot dead, James sent a final message to people saying he was going on ‘the path of jihad’, with members of Perth’s concerned Islamic community alerting police to the messages.

‘Brothers please forgive me for any time I have wronged you, I am going on the path of jihad tonight for the sake of Allah,’ James,who had reportedly converted to Islam, wrote.

‘I am a soldier of the mujahideen of al-Qa’ida and take responsibility for the actions that will … take place tonight.’

He also warned his contacts to ‘clear’ incriminating evidence from devices like laptops and phones.

‘If you have any illegal or jihadi things online or in real life please make sure to hide them well and clear your technology such as laptops and phones including search history … as the police will likely look into my contacts,’ James wrote.

The teen had reportedly attempted to indoctrinate other students and had been filmed in 2022 throwing a small homemade explosive device into a toilet block at the school.

That incident led to him spending more than two years in a ‘deradicalisation’ program.