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| Porepunkah shooting: two Victoria police officers dead, one injured in attack at rural property | Porepunkah shooting: two Victoria police officers dead, one injured in attack at rural property |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Police urge people to ‘avoid the area’ amid ‘active incident’ at Porepunkah, 300km north-east of Melbourne | Police urge people to ‘avoid the area’ amid ‘active incident’ at Porepunkah, 300km north-east of Melbourne |
| Victoria police shooting live updates | |
| What we know so far about the shooting in rural Australia | |
| Two Victorian police officers are dead and another wounded after a shooting at a rural property in the High Country town of Porepunkah. | |
| Victoria police said on Tuesday afternoon that they were attending an “active” and “ongoing” incident at a Porepunkah address and asked people to “avoid the area”. | |
| Four sources confirmed to Guardian Australia that two officers had been killed and another wounded in the shooting in the state’s Alpine region | |
| None were authorised to comment on the incident and only one had been directly briefed on the incident by police. | None were authorised to comment on the incident and only one had been directly briefed on the incident by police. |
| Sign up: AU Breaking News email | Sign up: AU Breaking News email |
| Officers attended the property about 300km north-east of Melbourne on Tuesday morning to serve a warrant, The Age reported. | Officers attended the property about 300km north-east of Melbourne on Tuesday morning to serve a warrant, The Age reported. |
| The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, expressed concern for police officers involved in the incident. | |
| “Our thoughts are with the police for the work they do, each and every day,” he said. | “Our thoughts are with the police for the work they do, each and every day,” he said. |
| “The men and women who wear … the uniform of the police force, take risks each and every day.” | “The men and women who wear … the uniform of the police force, take risks each and every day.” |
| Albanese said the Victorian police commissioner would provide an update later in the afternoon. | Albanese said the Victorian police commissioner would provide an update later in the afternoon. |
| In a statement, Victoria police would not confirm details but did say that officers were at a property in Porepunkah. | |
| “This is still an active incident and we will provide more information when it’s operationally safe to do so. | “This is still an active incident and we will provide more information when it’s operationally safe to do so. |
| “We ask people avoid the area,” the statement said. | “We ask people avoid the area,” the statement said. |
| A spokesperson for Porepunkah primary school confirmed the school was in lockdown on Tuesday morning. | |
| Earlier, the school’s principal, Jill Gillies, told the ABC they were advised to not let the students out at 11.30am. | Earlier, the school’s principal, Jill Gillies, told the ABC they were advised to not let the students out at 11.30am. |
| “We were told there was an incident near the school,” she said. | “We were told there was an incident near the school,” she said. |
| The Alpine shire council closed all council facilities “effective immediately” including all transfer stations, libraries, visitor information centres and depots across the shire, which includes Bright, Dinner Plain, Mount Beauty, Myrtleford and Porepunkah. | |
| Earlier, the Australian federal police commissioner, Reece Kershaw, said there were “grave concerns” for some of the police officers involved in the incident. | |
| “Just from the police blue family, the wider family across Australia and overseas, our thoughts and prayers are with Victoria police right now,” he said. | “Just from the police blue family, the wider family across Australia and overseas, our thoughts and prayers are with Victoria police right now,” he said. |
| Victoria’s premier, Jacinta Allan, began parliament’s question time on Monday afternoon with a brief statement on the Porepunkah shooting | |
| Allan, who changed from a red suit into a black suit for question time, paid tribute to Victoria’s police force. | |
| “Victoria police officers and all of our first responders show extraordinary bravery and courage every single day. They are the best of us,” she said. | |
| The Victorian opposition leader, Brad Battin made a statement to parliament and said his thoughts were with all Victorian emergency services across the state. | |
| “We know with an active situation up there, it’s not just the emergency services, it’s the local community that is impacted. We hear of lockdowns in schools,” he said. | |
| “We send out our thoughts to the families, the parents and everyone involved with those schools as well.” | |
| Allan earlier said she had been briefed by the chief commissioner of Victoria police and urged people to avoid the area. | |
| Battin told reporters “we want to send our thoughts and our strength out to Victoria police members”. | |
| “We know that when Victoria police members get out of bed every day and go to work, they go to work with risk,” he said. |