Sydney, Feb 8 (IANS) Sydney police have launched an investigation after a teenager arrived at a hospital with a gunshot wound.
Police in Australia’s state of New South Wales (NSW) said on Saturday that officers were called to a hospital in Bankstown, about 18 km southwest of central Sydney, on Friday night when the 17-year-old presented to the emergency department with a gunshot wound to his right leg.
The 17-year-old male, whose injuries were not considered life-threatening, was accompanied by an 18-year-old man. Both men refused to assist the officers with inquiries, NSW Police said.
Police attempted to arrest the 18-year-old for concealing an offence when he allegedly assaulted two officers, injuring one.
He was taken to a nearby police station where he allegedly “made a number of threats towards officers.”
The 18-year-old was charged with six offences, including assaulting a police officer, hindering or resisting arrest and three counts of intimidating a police officer.
Police seized a vehicle that they believe was used by the males to attend the hospital and commenced an investigation into the shooting, Xinhua news agency reported.
Anyone with information about the incident has been urged to contact police.
Earlier this week, Police in South Australia (SA) said that it has established a new task force to combat violent crimes committed by youth gangs.
SA Police announced the new Youth and Street Gangs Task Force on Wednesday as part of a boost to police resources allocated to investigating youth crime, domestic and family violence, cybercrime and retail theft.
Commissioner Grant Stevens said that the new task force would respond to crimes as well as undertake preventive and rehabilitative work.
“Youth crime is not just about the criminality, but the recruitment of younger members, so the task force provides an opportunity to break this cycle,” he said in a statement.
“This permanent task force will disrupt and reduce the criminal activities of a target group of offenders, particularly focusing on crimes of violence that pose a significant risk to community safety.”
The task force has been formed by merging two existing police operations and adding 13 police officers to its ranks.
SA Police data released earlier in January revealed that the number of crimes committed by offenders aged 10-17 rose by 140 per cent from 6,938 in 2018-19 to 16,710 in 2023-24.
–IANS
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