A Sydney mosque has been raided, and a home searched, as NSW police continue their investigation into Friday afternoon’s fatal shooting.
At 4.30pm Friday, 15-year-old Farhad Jabar Khali Mohammad shot and killed police IT worker Curtis Cheng outside police HQ in Parramatta, then fired at other employees exiting the building, before he himself was shot down and killed by officers.
Investigators say that the teen, of Iraqi-Kurdish background, attended a mosque shortly prior to the shooting; after prayer, he was seen to put on a “black robe” before walking to the scene of the crime.
He was seen acting erratically outside police HQ in the minutes leading up to the shooting, with police sources saying “he drew attention to himself to the extent some people caught it on their iPhones.”
In the week leading up to the shooting, police say that they had detected “chatter” about a possible threat, and advised all officers at the premises to wear guns, even at their desks.
Overnight, police executed a search warrant at Parramatta Mosque, with the full assistance of the leadership there. A search was also conducted at the teen’s home in North Parramatta, where computer equipment was confiscated.
It is understood that Mohammad’s sister Shadi went missing on Thursday this week, leaving the country on a Singapore Airlines flight to Istanbul, where she may be attempting to reach Iraq or Syria.
A tip-off from the teen’s older brother shortly after shooting helped in establishing identity. Police maintain that there is “a fair bit of information” the radicalised teen acted alone.
via ABC News
