Man crashes truck, stabs 3 in Australian 'terror' attack

Nov. 9 (UPI) -- A knife-wielding man went on a stabbing spree in Melbourne Friday, Australian authorities said -- crashing his truck and setting it on fire and confronting police before they shot him.

The suspect, a 31-year-old Somali man who was known to authorities, later died at the hospital, police said.

The attack on Bourke Street is being treated as a terrorist attack. Video footage shows the man lunge at officers before he is shot.

A relative of the suspect was arrested on terror-related charges last year.

"He is known to both Victoria Police and federal intelligence authorities," Victoria Police Commissioner Graham Ashton said Friday. "There is no ongoing threat that we know of."

One of the victims died and two others were hospitalized, police said.

Rodney Patterson, former president of the South Launceston Football Club, was among the injured.

"Unfortunately, we got caught up in the attack in Bourke Street this afternoon and Rodney was hurt -- good news is he is in a great hospital and doing OK given the circumstances," his wife Maree Patterson posted online.

Officials said the terror suspect, who's lived in Australia since the 1990s, had barbecue gas cylinders in his truck when it caught fire -- after narrowly missing colliding with a tram.

"This is an evil and terrifying thing that has happened in our city," Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said.