Driver ran over Christmas shoppers as revenge for ‘mistreatment of Muslims’: cops
The man who plowed an SUV into a crowd of Christmas shoppers in Australia told cops he carried out the attack for retaliation on the “mistreatment of Muslims,” officials said Friday.
Saeed Noori, 32, injured 19 people – three critically – when he sped his vehicle into a busy intersection in downtown Melbourne outside the city’s main train station just before 5 p.m. on Thursday.
Noori, an Afghan who was granted entry into Australia in 2004 as a refugee and became a citizen two years later, made the comments to police after he was arrested.
“He has said that he attributes his actions to the perceived mistreatment of Muslims,” Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said.
Despite the comments, officials say Noori – who has a history of mental illness – has no known links to any extremist groups and he was not on intelligence agencies’ list of potential terror suspects.
“At this stage . . . apart from that statement there are no known links to any political issues or any links to extremist groups,” Turnbull said.
Noori, according to officials, also made references to God and Australia’s domestic security service following his arrest.
From his hospital bed, he spoke briefly to investigators about his dreams and hearing voices, officials said.
Acting Chief Commissioner of the Victoria Police Shane Patton said: “I don’t have an issue with saying this is an act of terrorism if we establish that it is.”
“It would be easier to come out and say that straight up. But that’s not the case at this stage. We don’t have sufficient [evidence] to justify that.”
Noori remains in police custody and charges were pending.
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