1. Tyler Cassidy was armed and appeared a danger to public safety
It has been reported that Tyler Cassidy had left home in an agitated state. He had apparently tried to take a couple of knives from the family home but was disarmed. His mother is then said to have contacted the police, after her son went out, because she was concerned about his safety. Tyler Cassidy is then reported to have gone to a local Kmart store where he stole two kitchen knives.
Assistant Commissioner Tim Cartwright stated, 'Not long before he'd tried to arm himself with two knives at the family home, this is what the family has told us. They'd disarmed him. He'd left the house in an agitated state and gone to the shopping plaza where we believe he's taken two knives from Kmart.'
Police have requested surveillance footage from inside the Kmart store, which is believed to show the boy slashing boxes in an agitated state.
A witness who saw Tyler Cassidy in the street stated, 'There was a kid and he had two big cleaver knives, but first I turned around because he screamed, he did a really kind of big roar. And then he was like walking really kind of angrily along with these two knives.'
The same witness also stated, 'From what I could tell, he looked like he was either incredibly angry or on ice or something. I thought perhaps he had a vendetta.'
Police were called to the Northcote Plaza Shopping Centre car park about 9.20pm after receiving up to four calls from the public about an agitated male carrying knives. It has been claimed that a number of members of the public clearly felt that Tyler Cassidy was dangerous.
Someone who knew Tyler Cassidy before his death has claimed that the youth had a violent temper. The man told the Herald Sun that unless the police shot Tyler, he would have made good on his threat to kill the officer.
The man claimed that Tyler fell in with the wrong crowd and had befriended a group of skinheads. He said Tyler was known for his sporadic violence....