14-year-old who allegedly stabbed student at Sydney University has extremist links

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Police are investigating if a 14-year-old boy who allegedly stabbed a 22-year-old student at the University of Sydney this morning has extremist links. While police have not identified a specific ideology for the attack, they say the teenager was known to government agencies. The counter-terrorism squad have now begun investigating a potential motive.

Transcript

00:00In broad daylight, at the entrance of Sydney University, police say a 22-year-old male

00:07student was stabbed in the neck with a kitchen knife by a 14-year-old boy.

00:13He's now being investigated for possible extremist links.

00:17I'm not going to go into the background of a 14-year-old other than confirming that he

00:23was known to police and other government agencies.

00:27The student was taken to hospital in a serious but stable condition and has since been released.

00:33Police say the suspect was dressed in camouflage and fled the scene by bus before attending

00:39the same hospital where he was arrested.

00:42It's understood the two were not known to each other.

00:45There is no ongoing threat as a result of the incident that occurred this morning.

00:49While a motive or ideology is still being determined, police have ruled out one possibility.

00:55It's certainly not a religiously related ideology.

00:59A lot of these vulnerable people, they're not linked into one particular ideology.

01:04They will move as they're exposed to different things.

01:07Assistant Commissioner Walton was asked whether there was any ideological connection between

01:12today's attack here at Sydney Uni and last week's alleged plot by a self-described right

01:18winger to kill a Labor MP in Newcastle.

01:22I wouldn't say there's a link between these events, those people, but is it likely that

01:27they've both been influenced in some way?

01:30As I say, the risk is there, yes.

01:34While the incident has not been declared a terrorist attack, it's prompted a stern warning

01:39about the dangers of online radicalisation.

01:42The internet is toxic and it's very easy for young people, especially to self-radicalise,

01:49to move towards violence.

01:50The boy is undergoing a mental health assessment.

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