Hoddle Street massacre

The Hoddle Street massacre was a mass shooting that occurred on the evening of Sunday, 9 August 1987, in Hoddle Street, Clifton Hill, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, in Australia.

The shootings resulted in the deaths of seven people, and serious injury to 19 others. After a police chase lasting more than 30 minutes, 19-year-old former Australian Army officer cadet Julian Knight was caught in nearby Fitzroy North and arrested for the shootings. Knight was later sentenced to seven consecutive terms of life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 27 years for one of the bloodiest massacres in Australian history. As Knight was between 18 and 21, he was classed as a young adult offender under Victorian law and also, because at the time Victoria did not have life without parole, he was given the 27-year minimum.

Knight currently resides in the maximum security Port Phillip Prison in Truganina, Victoria near Melbourne and was eligible for parole in 2014; however, the Victorian government has stated that it is "unlikely" Knight will ever be released.

Knight's father was involved in the military and Knight moved around a lot as a child. His lifelong dream was to defend Australia in a war. Knight entered the Royal Military College, Duntroon in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory on 13 January 1987, at the age of 18. Whilst a military career had long been a dream, he performed poorly at his studies and gained good results only in weapons expertise exercises. Knight did not like authority and he hated the social hierarchy of the army which allowed people only a few months older than him to boss him around as they were second year and he was first. One night, Julian Knight entered a bar looking for a fight. With him he carried a knife which he used to stab one of the second years. Due to this, Knight was discharged and sent back to Melbourne only 16 days prior to the day of the massacre. Upon returning to Melbourne, Knight found out that his longtime girlfriend would no longer see him and his mother, whom he had always relied on, had turned his childhood bedroom into an extra living room. Furthermore, Knight was without money, had no job to earn a decent wage and consequently, looked for other means. He decided to sell his car. On his way to the sale, his car broke down.