Outraged Footscray residents are demanding more support services and less police in the area after officers shot dead a man who charged at them with a knife on Thursday night.
Somalian refugee Abdifatah Ahmed, 35, was shot and killed at about 9pm on April 17 near the corner of Paisley and Albert streets in Footscray.
Mr Ahmed, of no fixed address, was treated by paramedics but died at the scene.
Commander Tim Tully said two officers called to the scene told the man to drop the weapon.
“I’m told he didn’t, and charged at police armed with a knife,” said Cmdr Tully on Friday.
“At that point, I’m told both police officers shot the man, causing fatal injuries.“
Homicide squad detectives will investigate the shooting with oversight from Victoria Police’s Professional Standards Command, the internal anti-corruption division.
Cmdr Tully said the shooting was a “tragic incident“ but stood by both officers’ actions.
“In these circumstances the members deemed that the firearms were appropriate,“ he said.
“I have certainly informed both members that they have my full support with respect to their actions that they’ve been forced to take.“
The death of Mr Ahmed, who was well known on the streets of Footscray and believed to have suffered from mental illness, has sparked anger among locals, some of whom linked it to a beefed up police presence in the suburb announced as part of a crime crackdown just days earlier.
“One week ago we had a release from the Victoria Police where they said they were going to have a heavy response in Footscray, they were gonna have a tough show of force and it took less than a week for us to have a community member dead,” said Footscray resident Gemma Carafella at a candlelight vigil she helped organise outside the Footscray Plaza shopping centre on Friday night, less than 24 hours after Mr Ahmed’s death.
About 80 people gathered for the vigil, with many holding placards reading ‘Community Care Not Cops’, ‘Services Not Bullets’ and ‘Stop Police Killings’.
Crime in central Footscray has surged over the past 18 months, with Mr Ahmed’s death occurring in almost the exact spot where a young man suffered life threatening injuries in a stabbing on February 21.
Ms Carafella said simply throwing more police at the problem was exactly the wrong approach.
“It’s absolutely appalling to have such uninformed response to what is a social and health issue,” she said.
“ We need investment in care in this area. We need investment in housing, in health and in community mental health and instead of that we’ve got police with police dogs and weapons and now within a week, someone dead.”
Ms Carafella spoke at the vigil alongside others including Maribyrnong councillor Mohamed Semra, social activist and African community leader Dr Berhan Ahmed, local resident Maree Pardy and Ilo Diaz from the Centre Against Racial Profiling.
Another protest was planned for Tuesday, April 22.
– with AAP
