Two police officers have been stabbed and an alleged offender shot dead in an incident in South Australia’s mid-north.
Police have confirmed they have responded to a high-risk incident at Crystal Brook, a small community about 200km north of Adelaide.
Brevet Sergeant Jordan Allely from Crystal Brook police station and Brevet Sergeant Ian Todd from the nearby town of Port Germein attended a premises late Wednesday morning to inquire about a “minor disturbance” the previous day at the local supermarket, South Australian police commissioner, Grant Stevens, said.
At the house, the male occupant allegedly stabbed the two officers, with both sustaining serious injuries.
The officers shot the alleged offender and he died at the scene.
A neighbour was the first person on the scene after the incident and assisted the injured police officers while paramedics were called.
Todd was airlifted to the Royal Adelaide hospital in a critical condition with life-threatening stab wounds to the neck and arm. Allely was also airlifted to Royal Adelaide hospital in a serious but stable condition with stab wounds to the right leg and arm.
Major crime detectives, the forensic response section and internal investigation section were attending and a coronial inquest would be undertaken, SA police said.
Stevens said family members of the injured officers were being taken to Adelaide to be near the officers, and SA Police would be supporting them “as much as possible going forward”.
Both officers were highly regarded in their local communities, Stevens said.
“I’m sure this will be felt quite harshly by those local communities. This is not an indication of the type of activity that we normally see in small regional communities. But once again, we really don’t know what’s happening beneath the surface in some situations and we can’t foresee what’s going to happen when we attend to taskings,” Stevens said.
Speaking to media after the incident, the president of the Police Association of South Australia, Mark Carroll, said the incident was “a tragedy for everybody”.
“I think this incident just highlights how dangerous policing is on a day-to-day, shift-by-shift basis. We are very concerned for our members and the serious injuries they have received today,” Carroll said.
“We are concerned for their welfare and their families.”
The union was providing support to the officers and their families, including providing the latter with accommodation when they arrive in Adelaide.
“This is a horrifying reminder of the levels of extreme violence frontline police officers face in the line of duty,” Carroll said.
The South Australian premier, Peter Malinauskas, said on Wednesday afternoon that his thoughts were with the officers and their families.
“I have just spoken to Police Commissioner Grant Stevens in relation to the high-risk incident at Crystal Brook. My thoughts are with the two injured officers & their families,” Malinauskas wrote on Twitter.
“Our police put their lives on the line every day to keeping us safe, for that we are forever grateful.”
Addressing parliament shortly afterward, Malinauskas said it was “an evolving situation” that would be “difficult for the South Australian community to absorb”.
“Our frontline police do an inherently difficult and dangerous job each day when they go to work. They exercise this duty with courage and bravery.”
The SA police minister, Joe Szakacs, said he had also been appraised of the situation and that it was “horrific and should never be envisaged”.
Carroll said there would be a commission of inquiry into how the events unfolded, but that it highlighted the dangers of policing.
“Policing is a highly dangerous occupation. We try to be as safe as we possibly can, we are trained on how to attend incidents … [but] it’s so unpredictable, people can do things in an instant. We see this around Australia all the time,” Carroll said.
“We are very concerned about the violence inflicted upon our members and we do what we can to provide them with tools of the trade and protective equipment to prevent injuries, but the unpredictable nature of policing and the events today just shows how things can happen.”
