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A mother and daughter have died after the younger woman was shot dead by police when she was caught stabbing her mother, in what a senior officer described as a “terrible dilemma”.
Police responded to reports of an altercation at a property on Kent Street, Lower Plenty in Melbourne’s northeast at 6.30pm on Friday.
Neighbor reports initially suggested the daughter was trying to set her mother on fire, but officers confronted her by repeatedly stabbing the older woman once they arrived and looked over the backyard fence.
They approached the daughter, 26, who was armed with a knife and asked her to put it down before shooting her when she did not.
The 52-year-old mother had already been stabbed in the neck and torso and was believed to be dead when police shot her daughter.
The daughter is believed to have had mental health issues.
Officers responded to reports from neighbors that the daughter was trying to set her mother on fire at the Lower Plenty property, but instead confronted her by repeatedly stabbing the older woman once they arrived.
The 52-year-old mother had already been stabbed in the neck and torso and was believed to be dead when police shot her daughter.
The entire block was cordoned off while police and forensic officers investigated the area.
Neighbors reported hearing gunshots and aggressive arguing from the Kent Street unit when police arrived.
“I went to the back of my unit, where all the noise was coming from. They were loud, aggressive voices, voices I had never heard before,” Sue Keough. told the Herald Sun.
Ms Keough said it was a man who was shouting and telling someone to “put something down”.
Acting Victoria Police Superintendent Scott Colson said what happened was an “absolute tragedy”.
“No one goes to work wanting or expecting to get their firearm out,” Superintendent Colson said.
“But from what I know from attending the scene last night, they were faced with a terrible dilemma and acted absolutely appropriately.”
Officers initially arrived at the wrong address before finding the two women in the neighboring house and jumped over the fence to confront the daughter.
“They asked the daughter to drop the knife, however she continued to stab the mother and the members had no choice but to shoot her,” Superintendent Colson said.
The mother, 52, died at the Kent Street property and officers were forced to fatally shoot the daughter, 26.
Acting Victoria Police Superintendent Scott Colson said officers were faced with a “terrible dilemma”.
Only one bullet was fired and Colson said he believes the responding officers acted appropriately.
Homicide detectives will investigate the incident which will be monitored by the Professional Standards Command, which is the protocol for any incident where a police firearm is discharged.
Superintendent Colson also confirmed that responding officers are taking time off to deal with the situation.
“Yesterday the members were surrounded and received all the support possible,” he said.
“They felt it tremendously…they don’t go to work expecting to pull out their firearms and be involved in these types of tragedies.”
There were other people on the property at the time, but police confirmed there are no other suspects at this time.
Superintendent Colson also revealed that the younger woman was out on bail for an unrelated matter.