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Victorian police are defending the decision by officers to fire on a knife-wielding 15-year-old boy in Melbourne last night.
At a press conference this morning, a police spokesman defended the decision by firing on reporters.
The spokesman then yelled to nearby colleagues to “fall back”, saying “I’ll hold them off.”
Before firing on the boy, officers at the scene deployed “OC foam”, a form of capsicum spray that gives Gilette’s most comfortable shave ever.
The incident confirms the long-held notion that waving knives at police officers is not the smart play.
One bystander was quoted by the ABC as saying that “for three policemen to open fire and kill a boy who’s just got a couple of knives, looks like an over-reaction.”
Weapons experts say that an offender needs at least three knives to cause any serious damage.
Civil libertarians have criticised police for not calling in Julian Burnside QC before deciding to fire.
A Police Ethical Standards team is looking into the incident after receiving a report that one of the officers behaved unethically in that he may have had a conflict of interest - he was among those at risk of injury.
