Fresh threats to “shoot up the school” attended by the teenager who was shot dead by police in Perth on the weekend have been dismissed as a hacking incident, with the school insisting there was no threat to students.
The 16-year-old was fatally shot by police in a car park in Willetton on Saturday night after he stabbed a stranger in the back. The teenager, a white convert to Islam, was known to police and had been in a deredicalisation program for two years.
On Tuesday morning, police were called to the school he attended – Rossmoyne senior high school – after a series of threatening messages were posted on an internal messaging service.
Redacted versions of the messages have circulated online: “All I’m saying is Allahu Ahkbar I will kill the [redacted] tomorrow”, one message said, appearing to have been posted by a student. Another message read: “I always planned to shoot up at the school and fuck all the [redacted] [redacted] you are all going to get punished for what you have said to me in school we will prevail”.
Rossmoyne’s principal, Alan Brown, emailed students and parents saying the messages were the result of a “hacking incident” and that there was no risk to students.
“Police do not have any concerns for the safety of the students, teachers, and the broader community, and WA police continue to work with the Department of Education to identify the source of the messages,” he wrote.
On Tuesday, in the aftermath of the boy’s killing, further details emerged of his deteriorating behaviour at school.
A short video circulating online shows the boy setting off a small improvised explosive in a school toilet two years ago. The footage shows him throwing the bomb into a toilet cubicle before being told to “get away” by another student, just before an explosion. The incident was investigated by police.
The WA premier, Roger Cook, confirmed a letter had previously been sent to the education department and to the Australian federal police about a group of allegedly radicalised teens at the school – including the slain student – that claimed they had tried to indoctrinate other students.
“The education department took that information on board and continued to manage that young man,” Cook said.
The premier said the boy appeared to have been radicalised online, and, as part of his deradicalisation program, was limited to a basic phone with no internet connection.
“As part of the countering violent extremism program, the individual in question only had a very basic telephone,” Cook said. “So when he came into contact with the … program there is a range of measures and I think that includes limiting his access to online media and social media.”
However, students at Rossmoyne have told reporters they had seen him watching extremist Islamist context in class on files kept on a USB.
“They were like Isis videos, I’m kind of uneducated on that subject, but something along the lines of like al-Qaeda groups and a lot of religious extremism,” the West Australian reported one student as saying.
“He wasn’t really like that, I think he kind of went down a bit of a rabbit hole … he definitely had some mental health issues.”
An online petition, which reportedly originated with a Rossmoyne parent and is addressed to the WA education minister, expresses “grave concern” over prayer rooms in the state’s public schools.
“We assert that the promotion and facilitation of religious practices within public schools create an environment that is divisive, exclusionary, and contrary to the principles of secular education,” the petition, launched on 29 April, states.
“This practice not only undermines the diverse fabric of our society but also violates the fundamental rights of students to receive an education free from religious influence.
“Moreover, the promotion of religious activities within public schools perpetuates societal divisions and contributes to the alienation and marginalisation of certain religious and cultural groups, thereby fostering religious radicalisation among impressionable students.”
On Tuesday, one signatory to the petition wrote in support of a closure of school prayer rooms, saying: “We don’t want what happened in Willetton to increase in frequency”.
A counter-petition, launched on Tuesday, urged the WA government to keep the prayer rooms in schools, pointing out that Islamic prayers are required at specific times throughout the day.
“These rooms are completely optional to use and don’t push their beliefs on others,” the petition argues. “Whether you believe in God or not, you should believe that everyone has the right to worship what they want”.
“The recent tragic event of the 16-year-old Perth boy attempting to become ‘jihad’ (sic) has left a horrible image on Islam and has tainted many people’s perceptions of this peaceful religion. A significant number of people have petitioned to close down prayer rooms in Perth, which is understandable due to circumstance but is also irrational and harmful to the broader community.”
Police investigations into Saturday night’s incident, at a Bunnings car park in Willetton in Perth’s southern suburbs, are continuing. The man who was stabbed – who was not known to the teenager – remains in hospital in a stable condition.
