Auburn police station shooting: Counter terrorism detectives Indian man stabbing cleaner

A ‘frenzied’ knifeman brutally stabbed a cleaner on a train platform before he was shot dead by officers in the reception area of a nearby police station five minutes later when he allegedly charged at two cops. 

A 28-year-old male cleaner was starting his shift at Auburn train station, in Sydney‘s west, on Tuesday when he was randomly attacked by a 32-year-old Indian migrant about 12.03am. 

The cleaner was stabbed in the left arm and fell to the ground before the other man knifed him again in the hip.  

Moments later, two police officers responding to the incident were walking out the front of nearby Auburn Police Station when they were confronted by the knife-wielding 32-year-old man. 

He was ‘hyperventilating’ and charged at the two officers – one shooting him dead, another tasering him. 

The grisly scene inside Auburn police station in Sydney’s west on Tuesday morning after the knifeman was shot dead in the reception area

A knifeman has been shot and killed after walking into a police station and threatening officers with the incident following a stabbing at Auburn Railway Station

The officers performed first aid on the knifeman until paramedics arrived on scene. He was taken to Westmead Hospital where he later died. 

Assistant Police Commissioner Stuart Smith said the 32-year-old, who is yet to be formally identified, arrived in Australia on a student visa from India in 2019.

He said there was no warning to the ‘frenzied’ attack on the cleaner. 

The knife-wielding man was seen ‘hyperventilating’ when he arrived at the police station.

Counter-terrorism investigators are involved in the probe into the incident – which Assistant Commissioner Smith said was just part of standard response of a critical incident investigation. 

He was then shot before officers performed first aid on him until paramedics arrived on scene

The injured cleaner was treated by paramedics at Auburn Railway Station before he was taken to Westmead Hospital in a stable condition.

Assistant Commissioner Smith said the Indian national was known to police, but only through Covid-19 lockdown enforcement checks early in the pandemic.

He added there had not been any criminal behaviour connected to those interactions, and they were ‘benign’ and at this stage unrelated to the current investigation.

‘We are leaving no stone unturned in establishing the intent of this individual,’ Assistant Commissioner Smith said.

A critical incident team comprised of officers from State Crime Command’s Homicide Squad will now investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident, including the discharge of a police firearm.

That investigation will be subject to independent review.

The man threatened police after walking into Auburn Police Station, in western Sydney, at 12.08am on Tuesday