Police investigating link between double murder and motorway shooting
Queensland police are investigating possible links between the alleged murder of an elderly couple in Brisbane and a man shot dead by police on one of the city’s major motorways.
Police at the scene of this morning's shooting on the Logan Motorway after an armed man confronted officers. (Photo: ABC)
Raghe Abdi, 22, threatened police with a knife before being shot on the Logan Motorway on Thursday morning.
It has since been revealed Abdi had been influenced by Islamic State, was on bail and had previously been arrested by counterterrorism officers.
Police are now investigating links to the deaths of a 87-year-old man and an 86-year-old woman, whose bodies were discovered on Thursday afternoon in Parkinson suffering significant injuries.
“Police are investigating whether the alleged murder of a man and woman at Parkinson may be linked to the fatal shooting of a man at Drewvale this morning,” they said in a statement.
Queensland Police Deputy Commissioner Tracy Linford said Abdi’s bail conditions included wearing a GPS tracking device, which he appeared to have cut off prior to the shooting.
“We were notified last night that there did appear to be some tampering with that tracking device,” she said on Thursday.
Officers attended the man’s address twice and searched bushland where the GPS device was pinging, but couldn’t find the man or the device.
Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Ian McCartney said Abdi was known to the Queensland joint counterterrorism team.
The AFP suspect he had been influenced by Islamic State and he was arrested on suspicion of an attempted foreign incursion when trying to depart Brisbane Airport for Somalia in May 2019.
He was released without charge due to insufficient evidence but had his passport cancelled.
In June 2019, he was charged with further offences including refusing to give the passcode for his phone.
He was remanded in custody after refusing to answer the magistrate or acknowledge the authority of the court, before being granted bail in September 2020.
Linford said the officers who responded to Thursday morning’s incident did not know the man’s identity and confirmed she had seen body-worn camera footage of the shooting.
“There are occasions when lethal force is the only option available to the police,” she said.
The Ethical Standards Command is investigating the shooting with oversight by the Crime and Corruption Commission.
-AAP
