“Blood Everywhere”: Middle Eastern Terrorist Opens Fire on Police, One Dead in Sydney, Australia

After Friday prayers (takbir!), a “man of Middle Eastern appearance,” black flowing shirt and black trousers targeted police in a deadly attack in West Sydney. There had been increased jihad “chatter” detected in the past week relating to a possible attack on the Parramatta headquarters. Australia has thwarted a number of Islamic attacks targeting police.

 

A civilian police employee has been “callously murdered” and his killer shot dead as officers returned fire outside police headquarters at Parramatta in Sydney’s West.

The name of the shooter has not been released, as is generally the case in acts of jihad. They have to scrub his Facebook and social media pages.

The shooter executed a police worker outside the State Crime Command, home to the state’s top detectives, in Parramatta at 4.30pm on Friday.

The Weekend Australian understands the man approached the victim, an IT worker, from behind, shooting him fatally in the back of the head with a single shot. He made no attempt to flee but walked back and forth at the scene, possibly looking for another target, before being engaged by three special constables, who shot the attacker dead.

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“He didn’t leave the area, he remained in the street and was acting quite aggressively,” NSW police chief Andrew Scipione said last night.

Closed circuit TV footage ­exists of the incident and images from the scene show uniformed police officers performing CPR on the victim. Children were trapped inside the child care ­centre for hours last night as the police set up a critical incident ­response. (The Australian)

“This man was simply leaving work this afternoon and he was gunned down.”

He said it appeared as if the police employee had been deliberately targeted and praised the “incredibly courageous” special constables who shot the attacker dead.

“They certainly put their lives on the line,” he said.

SMH: A police source said there had been increased “chatter” detected in the past week relating to a possible attack on the Parramatta headquarters.

The officer, who works at the State Crime Command headquarters, said that every officer had been ordered to wear their guns on them at all times this week, even while at their desks.

Police block off Charles Street, Parramatta, where witnesses saw two bodies lying on the ground. Photo: James Brickwood

NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said the gunman then remained on the street and was acting “aggressively” before he was shot and killed in a shoot-out with special constables responding to the initial shooting.

ABC: A civilian NSW Police employee has been “callously murdered” and his killer shot dead as officers returned fire outside police headquarters at Parramatta in Sydney’s west.

Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said the lone gunman, who is yet to be identified, shot the police employee at close range as he was leaving the building around 4:30pm on Friday.

The offender then fired several more shots at officers as they emerged from the building to respond to the incident.

The gunman was killed when the officers, who are special constables, returned fire.

In an emotional media conference, Commissioner Scipione praised the senior constables for the way they handled the situation.

“Those special constables certainly put their lives on the line this afternoon,” Commissioner Scipione said.

“They acted in a way that was incredibly courageous. And I’m just so pleased that they’re all well … they were incredibly professional.”

Commissioner Scipione described the incident as a callous attack.

“I’ve viewed a number of pieces of footage. I can tell you this was a brutal crime,” he said.

“An employee of the New South Wales police force has been callously murdered here today. He was simply leaving work.

“We acknowledge that this is a terrible episode and it will have an impact on our officers.”

Commissioner Scipione stressed that there was no ongoing threat to the surrounding community.

The ABC understands the incident was not terror related.

“The identity of the gunman is not yet known, and until we can identify him, we’re not in any position to take this any further in terms of motive or any other particular, around this particular attack,” Commissioner Scipione said.

“At this stage, as I’ve said, we’re not going to speculate, we’re going to keep a very open mind.”

Shortly after the incident, a crime scene was established, with surrounding streets blocked off and a police helicopter seen hovering above.

Police asked the public to avoid Charles Street, Hassall Street and Wigram Road.

Witnesses heard multiple gunshots

Witnesses earlier reported seeing two bodies covered with sheets on Charles Street.

A man who lives opposite the police headquarters recalled hearing gunshots.

“I was doing some work at my home and there’s a gun shot and I thought it was a tyre puncture,” the man told ABC.

“Then all of a sudden two more, two more shots came.

“I said to my wife ‘somebody is shooting somebody’ and then she opened the door and she saw somebody … the security guys from the headquarters … he was standing and shooting the other guy, and before that the other guy tried to shoot.”

Another local man, Raj Sodhi, said he also heard multiple gunshots.

“As I was sitting in my apartment I heard three or four bangs,” he said.

“At that time I couldn’t comprehend what was happening. I thought it must have been the construction site nearby. And then within half a minute of that there were three or four more bangs.

“It’s kind of scary because it has happened at this time of day when people are coming back home from work, in broad daylight. It’s kind of unusual, it’s kind of scary as well.”

Police have declared an exclusion zone.

Police also tonight revealed exactly how the shooting went down: with the gunman approaching the civilian worker, firing one shot at “point blank range” and then firing at several Special Constables inside the police building.

Witnesses have told 9NEWS the shooter was shouting as he approached the building, wearing black robes and wielding a pistol.

Edwin Almeida, who works directly across the road from the building, said he and his staff were initially alerted by the gunshots

Authorities remain at the scene. (9NEWS)

 

Police near the scene. (Twitter)

“Two people have died at the scene.”

Police said they are yet to identify either of the gunman.

Mr Almedia, who remains in his office in lockdown, said he was shocked at the incident.

“It was just so surreal – you just don’t believe it could happen right in front of you, while you’re at work in Sydney,” he said.

A caller to the Ben Fordham program on 2GB said they could see two bodies, covered with sheets.

Roads are closed. (Supplied / Oltan Akdogan)

“There are two bodies on the ground and we are just being told to move away to give police room,” the caller said.

2GB also received a call from a witness who said he saw a gunman laying in the street, covered in blood.

“I saw the guy dressed in black on the pavement,” he told the radio host.

“Blood everywhere.”

The Daily Telegraph has reported that police had “warning of the attack through intelligence services.”