2017 Queanbeyan stabbing attacks
On 6-7 April 2017, two teenage boys aged 15 and 16 allegedly went on a rampage in Queanbeyan, Australia, first stabbing a service station attendant to death, then violently attacking four people in a spree that continued for several hours. The attacks are being investigated by Australia's Joint Counter Terrorism Task Force as a possible terrorism-related crime. The suspects are under arrest.
Shortly before midnight on 6 April 2017 two boys attacked a service station attendant at Queanbeyan with a steak knife. The victim died, and his death was the start of a violent crime spree that continued for 14 hours.
The two suspects reportedly wrote the letters "I S" in blood on the walls of the service station. Based on DNA evidence, police will allege that the letters were written in the victim's blood.
The two are also accused of assaulting a man in a park and breaking into the home of a man they knew, bashing him with a tyre iron, and planning to steal money. Then, in the early hours of 7 April 2017, the two flagged down a driver, who took them for youths in need of assistance. One teen held a steak knife with blood on it, and bragged about having used the blood of his earlier victim to scrawl words on a wall before stabbing the driver in the stomach as his companion bashed him with a hammer.
The two suspects refused to appear at the Children's Court hearing on 28 June 2017 where they were charged with murder, robbery, wounding with intent to cause bodily harm, aggravated break and enter and aggravated car theft. All possible motives are being investigated, including mental illness, substance abuse and terrorism. The 16-year-old is believed to have a history of mental illness and to have been a user of crystal methamphetamine. One of the suspects continued to shout Allahu Akbar after he was arrested. According to authorities, 16-year-old posted radical material online in the weeks leading to the attack. One local police officer told the press that "we’re told the 16-year-old has been influenced by ISIS and has been on Facebook with ISIS propaganda." NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Catherine Burn siad: "We have two teenagers in custody and sufficient information to believe the actions of one of those teenagers may be related to terrorism." Friends and family of a victim of the attack cast doubts on an Islamist motivation behind the attack as the victim was a Muslim.
The 16-year-old suspect is being held in a juvenile justice centre. He has repeatedly threatened to rape and stab prison officers "in the name of Allah." The 15-year-old, held at a different juvenile justice centre, is said to be behaving.
The two have been charged with the stabbing murder of the service station employee, carjacking, a malicious assault during the spree that lasted several hours. On 28 June a magistrate lifted a "a non-publication and suppression order" that had prevented media coverage of court proceedings. In lifting the order, the magistrate questioned the justification for imposing it in the first place, asserting that open courts are a foundation of justice. The magistrate allowed police additional time to investigate. Forensic investigations will proceed over objecitons of suspects' attorney. Briefs will be served in the cases against both suspects by 18 September. Both cases are scheduled to return to court on 25 October.
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