The Associated Press
MELBOURNE, Australia - A man stole a police officer’s revolver, shot him with it then apparently turned the weapon on himself to commit suicide, a senior officer said Sunday.
Senior Constable Tony Clarke, a 37-year-old father of one, was killed in the early hours of Sunday morning in the southern city of Melbourne, said Deputy Commissioner Bill Kelly.
Kelly said the shooter got into a fight with the traffic officer after being pulled over and managed to wrestle the revolver from Clarke before fatally shooting him.
“Following that, the person ... had then taken the police car to another location 25 kilometers (15 miles) away from here and he has been at that scene for a very short time and has then obviously fired one shot and he is now deceased,” Kelly said.
Fatal shootings of police officers are rare in Australia, which has strict gun control laws.