Anti-terror cops thwart a homeless ‘lone wolf’ attacker’s plot to ’cause serious harm’ to punters at packed horse races
- Victoria cops have prevented a ‘lone wolf’ from attacking punters at horse races
- Police Minister Lisa Neville said the man was struggling with gambling debts
- He had been living in a car and was committed to a mental health facility
- Officers are tracking 35 high-risk individuals eight potentially dangerous groups
- Police believe public officers, including MPs and bureaucrats, could be targeted
Anti-terror police have detailed how they thwarted a ‘lone wolf’ attacker’s plan to kill people at horse races.
Victoria Police Minister Lisa Neville said a crack team of specialist police, forensic and mental health experts was recently asked to intervene after a man threatened to ’cause serious harm’ at horse races.
The races or tracks the terrorist was planning to target have not been revealed.
Victoria’s anti-terror cops claim they have prevented a ‘lone wolf’ from attacking punters at horse races (stock image)
Ms Neville said the attacker was a homeless man who had been struggling with gambling debts.
The ‘lone-wolf’ was among 35 high-risk individuals and eight potentially dangerous groups of people, which are currently monitored by the team at Fixated Threat Assessment Centre.
The $31.6million centre at the Victoria Police Command Complex has handled 181 cases in its first year.
The centre was set up in the aftermath of James Gargasoulas’s murderous Bourke St rampage, to identify and respond to individuals with complex needs, that could result in terrorism or perpetration of extreme violence.
Gargasoulas was sentenced to a minimum of 46 years for killing six people after he mowed down pedestrians in Melbourne mall in January 2017.
The ice addict was bullied by his classmates as a child and he once tried to blow up his high school.
Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton said public officials, including MPs and bureaucrats, have been targeted for making decisions that impacted the lives of such high-risk individuals.
Victoria Police Minister Lisa Neville said the man had been struggling with gambling debts. He was helped by officers from Fixated Threat Assessment Centre with his mental health issues. They also helped him find housing and stop betting
‘That seems to be a very common theme — and then fixating on that person as the cause of their whole life’s issues and then wanting to act out, or potentially act out, violently around that,’ he said
The centre is dealing with individuals with ‘an intense preoccupation with a highly personalised cause’ and those ‘who pose a risk to themselves.’
Similar centres are operating in New South Wales, Queensland, New Zealand, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.