Two stabbed to death, man shot by police in horror eastern suburbs rampage
A survivor of this week’s horror stabbing rampage is continuing to recover from her knife wounds in hospital after the random violence spree that left two innocents dead in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs. It comes as the knifeman’s identity was revealed.
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A woman miraculously survived a horror stabbing rampage which killed her friend and another innocent man before police shot dead the knifeman in Melbourne’s east.
Ashlee Gunstone, 30, is recovering at The Alfred hospital after being stabbed multiple times while seated in a car next to her friend outside her Coppin Grove, Hawthorn, home on Wednesday night.
Her friend, also aged 30 from Hawthorn, was stabbed numerous times.
She died at the scene while Ms Gunstone was rushed to hospital with critical injuries, believed to be to the neck, back and arm.
Ms Gunstone underwent emergency surgery and was last night in a stable condition with family at her bedside.
The Herald Sun yesterday revealed the killer as 34-year-old Roxburgh Park man Mohamed Ibrahim. It is alleged he knifed to death another man, aged 59, as he walked in Kew later that night.
The fatally wounded man managed to call triple-0 and give a description of the attacker before losing consciousness and dying in hospital.
At the scene, Ibrahim tried to attack critical incident response team officers with one of his knives.
He was carrying two large big kitchen knives and a switch blade pocket knife.
Witnesses heard “aggressive” shouting before three gunshots rang out, killing Ibrahim.
Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton yesterday said the man had a mental health flag against his name, but didn’t have a criminal record.
All victims were attacked at random, with no prior connections between them.
“He doesn’t have any criminal history, no warrants out for his arrest, he is not on bail, no parole history accordingly,” Mr Ashton said.
Police raided Ibrahim’s Roxburgh Park property to look for clues on his phone and computer.
It is unclear if the raid provided any insight into any possible motive.
In 2018, Ibrahim attended a police station twice and claimed he feared ISIS operatives in Mildura were “out to get him”, police revealed.
Counter terror police are not treating the terrifying incident as a terror attack.
Ibrahim’s killing spree began at Jolimont station where he approached two Protective Service Officers and lashed out at one with a kitchen knife about 10.40pm.
The PSO was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening slash wounds on his cheek and arm and yesterday underwent cosmetic surgery at Richmond’s Epworth Hospital.
After the Jolimont attack, Ibrahim ran through Yarra Park, boarding a train at Richmond station and getting off at Glenferrie station in Hawthorn. He then attacked Ms Gunstone and her friend as they returned home to Hawthorn about 11.20pm.
There was a confrontation before he lashed out and repeatedly stabbed them both inside their black Mazda CX-3.
Police were called to Kew just after midnight where the 59-year-old man was found near a tram stop outside the QPO building, close to Cotham Rd and Queen St.
Mr Ashton commended him for his bravery for calling police with his attacker’s description before he lost consciousness and died.
EXCLUSIVE STREET ROCKED BY DOUBLE STABBING
Residents of the leafy eastern suburbs were woken by gunshots in the early hours of yesterday morning when police shot a man dead outside their homes.
Kew resident Georgia Sassi, 21, woke to “aggressive” shouting outside her Walpole St home in the moments before police shot dead Mohamed Ibrahim, ending a stabbing spree that claimed two lives.
“There was a verbal conflict, I heard two to three voices,” she said.
“It sounded quite intense. A police officer was saying ‘put your hands up’ … it got heated very quickly.
“Then there were three loud gunshots. There was a lot of loud yelling.”
Another neighbour said she saw police performing CPR on Ibrahim after he had been shot.
Police said they tried a number of nonlethal tactics including tasers before they were forced to shoot Ibrahim.
“He was called upon to surrender and he didn’t,” Assistant Commissioner Glenn Weir said.
The usually busy Walpole St shopping strip was yesterday cordoned off as forensic teams combed the area.
Residents in Hawthorn’s Coppin Grove were distraught after two women were stabbed.
Helen Hounslow, who lives about 40m from the site, said she heard a horn about 11pm on Wednesday before flashlights shone through her windows.
“You look out the window and you see these police officers with a german shepherd jumping the fence and stalking the house,” she said.
“I felt very scared; it’s going to make me put a front fence up, that’s for sure.”
At a Cotham Rd tram stop, a pool of blood stained the footpath where a man aged 59 was fatally stabbed.
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