Australian boy killed by police was in deradicalization program since causing school explosion

By ROD McGUIRK
Associated Press

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australian police say a 16-year-old boy who was shot dead by police after stabbing a man had been engaged in a deradicalization program since he detonated a homemade explosive device in a school toilet block two years ago. The boy wounded a man with a kitchen knife in a hardware store parking lot in the west coast city of Perth on Saturday night before police killed him with a single shot. Police Commissioner Col Blanch said on Tuesday the boy had been a voluntary participant of the federally funded Countering Violent Extremism program since 2022 when he caused an explosion at a toilet at his school. The education department says no one was injured and no damage was caused by the explosion.