Police shoot man after fatal stabbing in Melbourne’s northwest

Police have shot a man after he allegedly stabbed and killed his stepfather in a brutal family violence incident.

Police have shot a man after he allegedly stabbed and killed his stepfather in a bloody family violence incident in Melbourne’s northwest.

Emergency services were called to a Chris Court home in Hillside about 6.50am on Friday following reports a man had been stabbed.

A 61-year-old victim was found on the front lawn of the home with critical injuries when police arrived on the scene.

Officers attempted CPR but the man died at the scene.

On Friday afternoon, Detective Inspector Dean Thomas told journalists that officers then heard a scream from inside the house.

“At that point, they have entered the house to render any assistance they could to anyone in there,” he said.

“They were confronted by a male, who was armed with a knife.”

“A shot was fired by police inside the address and the police officers retreated from the premises out the front door.

“A female who was at the address retreated from the rear door.”

Police have shot a man after a fatal stabbing at Hillside in Melbourne. Picture: NewsWire/Pool/ Joel Carrett

The officers were then confronted by the male at the front door of the property, Detective Inspector Dean Thomas said.

He said the officers tried to maintain their distance from the man and asked him “to put the edged weapon down and surrender.”

The man returned inside the address before coming outside again to confront the officers.

Detective Inspector Dean Thomas said the man made his way down the street and stabbed the tyre of a police vehicle.

“After that, he has advanced on one of our members, again they were engaging with him to drop the knife, and several shots were fired by one of our members, which hit the offender, and the offender dropped to the ground,” he explained.

The man was then taken into custody and conveyed to Royal Melbourne Hospital.

He is in a critical but stable condition.

The fatal altercation occurred on a usually quiet street. Picture: Google

A 27-year-old woman, who is the man’s stepsister, was also taken to hospital as a precaution after witnessing the incident.

Detective Inspector Thomas said the woman had dialled triple-0 after her stepbrother showed up at the address unexpectedly and got into an altercation with their stepfather.

“It was a very confronting, distressing scene,” he said.

Several neighbours also dialled triple-0.

The police said they believed mental health may have been a factor in the incident.

“We do have some active intervention orders in place, Detective Inspector Thomas said.

The police are treating the incident as a family violence matter.

Detective Inspector Thomas said he had viewed bodycam footage from the officers.

“From what I have seen … they appear to have done everything they could and they appeared to have followed policy.”

Homicide Squad Detective Inspector Dean Thomas addressed the media on Friday. Picture: NewsWire / Diego Fedele

Detective Inspector Thomas said the police officers were “clearly distressed” by the incident.

“That was their first job for the morning,” he said.

“They have acted bravely and they have done everything they could to avoid a situation, but unfortunately the offender has continued to advance on them.”

The entire interaction took place within a matter of minutes, Detective Inspector Thomas said.

Crime scene examiners are on scene to collect evidence.

Originally published as Police shoot man after fatal stabbing in Melbourne’s northwest