Victoria Police shoot ‘distressed’ man dead on Monash Freeway

Victoria Police have shot dead an armed man following a tense stand-off at the on-ramp to Melbourne’s Monash Freeway.

Victoria Police shot dead a “distressed” man armed with a knife at the on-ramp to the Monash Freeway in Dandenong North on Thursday morning.

Southern Metropolitan Region Assistant Commissioner Bob Hill said police received several calls about 10am reporting a man at the side of the road, parked in the emergency lane.

He said officers attended the scene and tried to engage with the man, who has been identified as a 53-year-old from Narre Warren, in Melbourne’s southeast.

“There was certainly some agitation on behalf of the male,” he said.

“We tried to negotiate … We tried actually to calm the man down.”

Mr Hill said the man produced a knife during the negotiations and advanced on the officers, who tried to make a tactical withdrawal.

He said the officers used a bean bag round from a firearm to stop the man advancing further before a police officer used a semi­automatic to fire at least two shots in the man’s chest. He died on the side of the road.

“A tragic and sad event,” Mr Hill said.

“At this time, there is nothing to indicate to me that our police members (did not) do every everything they could to resolve this matter but unfortunately it has ended sadly with someone losing their life.”

Mr Hill said it was a sad event for the man’s friends and family, as well as the community and Victoria Police who would be scarred by the fatal shooting.

He said the man was known to police but didn’t have a criminal record and his contact with police was limited.

Police block off the city-bound lanes of the Monash Freeway at the East Link interchange after the shooting. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

He said it was unclear whether the man was intending self-harm or harming others but it could be termed a mental health episode.

Homicide Squad detectives will investigate the incident with oversight by Professional Standards Command, and the coroner and Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission would also be involved.

In a separate incident, the bodies of a man and a woman were found at a property in Notting Hill, 19km southeast of Melbourne. The couple was found at a residential address about 11am on Thursday and police are still determining the circumstances of the deaths and whether they are suspicious.

Detectives from Monash Crime Investigation Unit are investigating the matter with assistance from the Homicide Squad.