Right now, all you need to know about the hostage-taking incident in Brighton, Melbourne!
At about 4 pm yesterday, hostage-taking and shooting took place in the Buckingham Serviced apartment on Bay Street, Melbourne`s Brighton district!
There are no less than 2, 30 fierce gunfight at the scene, very dangerous!
At 8: 30 this morning, the police and the state goverment held a press conference, and IS also claimed responsibility for the incident!
Casualty condition
In the incident, two men (including gangsters) were killed, three police officers were shot and a woman was taken hostage and rescued.
When officers arrived at the scene, they engaged in a gunfight with the gunman and shot the gunman.
Three officers sustained gunshot wounds in the fight. Two officers were taken to the hospital for medical treatment and one officer was treated at the scene, all of whom were in no danger of life.
It is reported that the man who was unable to die was an apartment worker, and the woman taken hostage was also a building worker.
People say the apartment`s manager is Chinese, and most of its employees are Chinese, so the dead man is likely to be Chinese. However, the news has not been confirmed.
Gunman identity
At 5:41 yesterday, the newsroom received a call from a woman claiming to have been taken hostage, 7News reported. Then, a man took the phone and said, "this incident started for IS, it was for al-Qaeda."
Radio 7 anchor Paul Dowlsey said police confirmed that the man`s phone number was the number of the gunman in the incident.
Police are still identifying the gunmen and investigating whether the incident was related to terrorism, and counter-terrorism investigators arrived last night to investigate. The bomb squad is investigating a suspicious package at the scene and asking nearby residents to wait until morning to return home in order to keep the scene easy for police investigation.
But according to Herald Sun, a senior goverment official revealed that the culprit, Yacqub Khayre, was a Somali refugee and had a "previous record." in 2009, he was suspected of participating in a terrorist suicide attack at the Holsworthy military base.
Yacqub Khayre
At the time he was charged with the incident, during which he was said to have travelled to Somalia to seek a priest`s blessing for the attack, but his legal team argued that he was only seeking religious enlightenment. Khayre was finally acquitted.
In 2012, to buy meth, he launched another burglary and assaulted the female head of household and her father. By the time he was arrested, his body had been maimed by drugs, preventing him from being interrogated. Before the burglary, Khayre was sentenced to five and a half years in prison before he was released on parole, the judge found, in an attempt to launch illegal acts such as robbery, theft, knife injury and so on.
That said, he was recently released on parole and was rated a low-risk suspect by the anti-terrorism police.
If, in the end, the official confirmed the prisoner, the appeal for parole reform would be even louder.
Parties` reaction
Yesterday`s incident also brought great panic to nearby residents.
About 20 shots were fired at the scene. Residents of the nearby apartment were too scared to go out, and passers-by fled to the nearby Coles supermarket.
Jack Reid, a resident of Brighton, said he and friends fled frantically as soon as they heard gunfire.
"I was standing right across the street at the corner. Then I saw the police pull out the pistol and there were three shots. I was so scared that I hurried off. The police also told everyone to hide in Coles, and my friend and I did. "
Jack Reid
After the case was brought under control, Governor Daniel Andrews applauded the performance of the state police in the incident.
I hope the police can find out as soon as possible and officially declare the identity of the gangster. Recent incidents, I hope the police can increase security efforts, but also hope that everyone try to avoid going out at night. Micro will continue to pay attention to this matter, and to bring everyone the latest developments.
