Gosnells police shooting: Man who allegedly stabbed man, lunged at cops with knife to face court from bedside

A man who was tasered five times and shot twice by police after he allegedly lunged at them with a large hunting knife and stabbed someone outside a Centrelink has been charged with several offences.. The accused was tasered after officers tried to encourage him to drop the knife — which was about 20cm to 30cm — outside a home on Wilsley Street, Gosnells. It followed reports he was involved in an aggravated armed robbery on Monday. Police Commissioner Col Blanch said the tasers didn’t stop the accused, before police eventually shot him twice. “A police officer took a single shot at that time, which caused the suspected to fall over, and he got back up and continued that lunge, and then a second shot was fired,” he said. The man, a 41-year-old from Gosnells, was taken to Royal Perth Hospital where he was listed as being in a critical condition on Tuesday. Mr Blanch said the armed robbery related to reports a man had his bag stolen before being stabbed in the arm outside the Centrelink on Lissiman Street. The man who was allegedly stabbed was taken to Armadale Hospital. Police have since charged the accused with four offences — breaching a post sentence supervision order, aggravated armed robbery, unlawful wounding and a possession of cannabis offence. The accused is listed as appearing in the Armadale Magistrates Court for a bedside hearing on Friday. Mr Blanch said officers tried to negotiate with the man for up to 30 minutes once he was found nearby. “A number of commands were issued to that male to put down the knife . . . and up to five taser cartridges were fired upon that person . . . however, the knife remained in the hands of the suspect,” Mr Blanch said. The knife had a large circular handle making it “difficult to disarm”. “The issue was more the retaining of the knife in the suspect’s hand.” “We couldn’t make the scene safe for officers until he removed the knife in his hands.” Mr Blanch said the man lunged towards police with the knife before telling officers to “shoot him”. He was shot once before he fell down. He then lunged at police again, before the second shot was fired. Mr Blanch said the man was known to police.