Terror suspect 'a good kid'
Friends of a terror suspect shot dead by officers in a frenzied stabbing rampage outside a Melbourne police station have described the teenager as 'a good kid'.
Numan Haider stabbed an AFP officer multiple times before twice stabbing a Victorian officer in the forearm at Endeavour Hills Police Station on Tuesday night.
The 18-year-old, who had been watched by authorities for several months, agreed to meet the officers about concerning pro-Islamic State behaviour.
He refused to be interviewed in the police station, but agreed to an informal chat in the car park.
Haider, whose family is from Afghanistan, shook their hands before trying to kill them.
It is understood Haider was planning to behead the officers and drape their bodies in an ISIS flag, but he was shot dead at the scene.
A steady stream of mourners flocked to his family home to pay respects to the young man, who, for now, is the face of Australia's home grown terror threat.
To those who arrived to acknowledge his family's personal tragedy, Haider was not a terrorist.
"He was a good person, a good person," one mourner told 7News.
Others who knew him say a broken romance had added to his volatile state of mind.
Police cancelled Haider's passport a week ago after intelligence revealed he was planning to travel to Syria to fight with Islamic State.
He was seen in a shopping centre with a flag that appeared to be from jihadist group, which raised concerns about his pro-terror movement.
He was also part of a group of Islamic men who spread their fanatical messages of hatred online.
A Facebook post from six days ago read: "The main message I'm sending with these statuses is to the dogs AFP and ASIO who are declaring war on Islam and Muslims."
Numan was a regular visitor to a Hallam mosque, located just a few hundred metres from his family's Endeavour Hills home.
Representatives declined to speak to 7News about the 18-year-old or the events of last night.
The teenager was linked with the radical Islamic group called Al-Furqan, based in Springvale, which was the subject of a police raid two years ago.
Based in Springvale, in Melbourne's south-east, associates of Al-Furqan were the targets of terrorism raids by Victoria Police and the Australian Federal Police in 2012.
