Knifeman shot dead after fatal stabbings in Australia

SYDNEY－Australian police are investigating a seemingly random stabbing spree in which two people were killed and two injured in the city of Melbourne on Wednesday night.

A 34-year-old man was said to have attacked four people with a kitchen knife across three locations, before being shot dead by police as they attempted to apprehend him.

The motive for the attack is unclear. However, in the early stages of the investigation police do not believe the victims were known to each other or to the killer.

"There's nothing to indicate at this early stage that this is anything other than a random act of senseless violence," Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Glenn Weir told reporters.

Police said the spree began at roughly 10:40 pm local time on Wednesday, with an attack on a Protective Service Officer, or PSO, who was slashed at a train station and received non-life threatening lacerations to his face and upper body.

"It is understood an unknown man approached a PSO and engaged in conversation before assaulting him with an edged weapon and fleeing the scene on foot," police said in a statement.

The assailant was then said to have boarded a train to a neighboring suburb where he attacked two women, aged 30 and 31, as they were getting out a vehicle.

One of the women was killed at the scene and the other remained in a critical condition in hospital, police said.

The offender then traveled on foot to a different suburb where he engaged in a confrontation with a 59-year-old man who was walking around midnight.

The man suffered serious injuries in the attack and was promptly located and treated by paramedics but later died in hospital.

"A large police operation was underway by this stage naturally and a short time later the male suspect was located," Weir said.

When police officers tried to apprehend the man he was said to have approached them with a knife, and after attempting a number of options to subdue him, they shot him dead.

"Whilst there's been significant carnage caused, which is really tragic, I'm just really glad for the prompt and firm and decisive action that our people took to stop the threat before he could impact harm on other people," Weir said.

Xinhua