An African man has been shot dead by police in a troubled part of Melbourne after charging at officers with a knife.
Victoria Police said they were called to Albert Street in Footscray, a crime-ravaged suburb where police recently launched an Easter crackdown, at about 9pm on Thursday after reports of a man armed with a knife.
Two officers, a sergeant and a constable, told the man to drop the knife but he ran at them and was shot by both cops, police said. He was treated by paramedics but died at the scene.
Video from the scene shows the man, who police said is 35 and of no fixed address, is of African appearance, and a local anti-racism group is calling for an investigation into the shooting.
Noticer News has been told he was of Somalian descent.
“In the interest of transparency and accountability, we call for a fully independent investigation into the incident by the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC). We also call for IBAC to prepare a brief on the incident for the Coroner,” the Centre Against Racial Profiling said on Friday.
Commander Tim Tully said a group of people began abusing and throwing bottles at police after the shooting, but did not believe they were connected to the dead man.
Video seen by Noticer News of the tense scenes shows men with African accents yelling “you could have walked away” and accusing the police of racism.
“Homicide Squad detectives will now investigate the matter with oversight from Professional Standards Command, as is standard procedure for a fatal police shooting,” police said.
The fatal shooting comes after an African man nearly bled to death after being stabbed by a machete-wielding gang during a brawl in Footscray in February, and another African man was shot by police while charging at them with a metal pole in Doveton last month.
Police launched a “show of force” with the Public Order Response Team and the Dog Squad in Footscray last week amid rising community anger and complaints from local businesses that crime and anti-social behaviour was driving customers away.
Header image: Left, police after the shooting (Supplied).
