15-Year-Old Boy Shot By Cops In Skater Park

SKY News
Dec. 14, 2008

Police in Australia have shot dead a 15-year-old boy in a skate park, claiming he had threatened them with knives.

The officers in the southern city of Melbourne said the youth had continued to approach them with the weapons even though they had fired warning shots.

The boy, named as Tyler Cassidy, was also hit twice with pepper spray.

The boy died at the scene after being fired on by several times by officers.

His family condemned the shooting, saying: "The entire family and friends of Tyler Cassidy are appalled at the actions by Victoria Police last night."

Speaking after the event, Victoria state police assistant commissioner Tim Cartwright said police were called to the park after several people reported seeing a young man behaving erratically.

The boy had stolen knives from a nearby department store earlier in the day, Mr Cartwright said.

"He was irrational. He was yelling and screaming and, as far as we can tell, armed with two knives at that stage," he said, adding that the situation was a tragedy but that officers had acted appropriately. The shooting is now under investigation.

Friends of the teenager posted messages on his MySpace page. "Gunned down by idiot cops. That's life hey?" one reads.

"You were a mad little b****** but no one will ever forget you," said another.

According to his personal page, Tyler was a member of a nationalist group called the Southern Cross Soldiers.

The group says it is not racist but is calling on Australians to "fight for what is truly ours".

"This is about how we walk down the main street in any town, or city in Australia and see more foreign flags than we do Aussie, hear more foreign languages than we do English, in all honesty it's about the fact that we as true Australians are becoming the minority in OUR own country!" its website says.

The shooting comes less than a week after police in Athens, Greece, fatally shot a 15-year-old boy, sparking a series of riots across the country.