An elderly couple in Australia were killed in a “terrorism incident” carried out by a man armed with knives who was later shot dead by police, officials said Friday.
The bodies of Maurice Anthill, 87, and Zoe Anthill, 86, were found Thursday at his home in Brisbane, hours after police killed the suspect, Raghe Abdi, 22.
Abdi, who was on bail, threatened police with a knife before being fatally shot on a road on the outskirts of Brisbane.
Queensland State Deputy Commissioner of Police Tracy Linford declined to detail how the octogenarian couple died, but said homicide detectives found evidence that Abdi had been in the home.
Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll said Abdi was a well-known extremist acting alone.
“We had no choice but to declare it an incident of terrorism,” Carroll told reporters.
The ISIS-influenced killer was arrested in May 2019 on suspicion of trying to join extremists when he tried to leave Brisbane airport for Somalia.
He was released without charge due to insufficient evidence, but his passport was canceled.
Abdi faced further charges a month later, including refusing to give detectives his phone password.
He was released on bail and had been forced to carry a GPS tracking device, which he had cut off before he was shot.
With publishing cables