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1998/15: Victoria Police shootings: do Victorian police use force too readily?
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2008/28: The shooting of Tyler Cassidy: did Victoria Police officers act appropriately?<BR>

2008/28: The shooting of Tyler Cassidy: did Victoria Police officers act appropriately?

What they said...
'The entire family and friends of Tyler Cassidy are appalled at the actions by Victoria Police last night. Their heavy handedness and lack of negotiating skills at the scene of the shooting contributed to the untimely death of our beautiful 15-year-old'
Part of a statement issued by Tyler Cassidy's family after his death

'We train our police members. They've foamed him [with capsicum foam], they talked to him and they've done what they can [before he was shot]. It's a dreadful event'
Assistant Police Commissioner, Tim Cartwright

The issue at a glance
On the evening of December 11, 2008, a 15-year-old youth was shot dead by three Victoria Police officers in a Northcote skate park.  
The boy, Tyler Cassidy, was brandishing two kitchen knives he was reported to have recently stolen from a local Kmart store.  He was said to be in a very agitated state.
Assistant Police Commissioner, Tim Cartwright, has claimed that the officers took every action they could to defuse the situation before Tyler Cassidy's threatening behaviour forced they to shot him.
Tyler Cassidy's family have disputed the Victoria Police's account of events and have claimed that the police officers over-reacted. They believe that if the situation had been handled appropriately the youth would have been apprehended and would be alive and with them now.
Others have argued that the incident suggests Victoria Police's procedures for handling such incidents need to be reviewed.  There are others who have specifically suggested that Tyler Cassidy's death could have been avoided if Victoria Police officers were armed with tasers (electric stun guns).

Background
Timeline of events leading to the shooting of Tyler Cassidy
(The following information was taken from a report published in The Australian on December 12, 2008.  It refers to events believed to have occurred the preceding evening, December 11, 2008.
The full text of this document can be found at http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24789822-5006785,00.html)

7.00pm-8.30pm (AEDT)
Tyler Cassidy is involved in a fight at family home in Northcote, and takes two knives but family members disarm him.
Tyler leaves the house angry and upset and goes to Northcote Plaza shopping centre. He goes into K-Mart store and steals two knives, according to a witness. He slashed boxes as he left armed with the knives. Police are contacted.

9.30pm  
Tyler is seen behaving irrationally with the knives in the centre carpark and goes to All Nations Park next to the shopping centre. More calls to police are made.
Four police officers - two males and two females - arrive and try to negotiate with the boy.
He approaches officers so they deploy capsicum spray, but it does not subdue him.
Tyler urges police to kill him or he will kill them. He approaches one officer and a warning shot is fired. He ignores demands to back off and three of the four officers fire, killing him.
History of police shootings in Victoria
(Part of the information presented below comes from an ABC report presented in April, 2000.  The full text of this report can be read at http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/stories/s118576.htm)

In Victoria police shootings are no longer common but throughout the eighties and nineties Victorian police had the worst reputation in Australia for using maximum lethal force in threatening situations.
Between 1984 and 1995 they shot dead 35 people, twice as many as the rest of Australia's police forces combined. Those killed were usually known or suspected criminals or people suffering from mental illness. Sometimes the victims were armed, sometimes not.
By 1994 community confidence was so shaken police command announced the re-training of the entire force. Under Project Beacon officers learned non-violent techniques to disarm offenders in high pressure situations. Capsicum spray which temporarily blinds and chokes offenders was also introduced.
A further seven police shootings have occurred since 1995. The rate of police shootings has again escalated this year, with Tyler Cassidy's death marking the fourth shooting incident. Two men were killed earlier in the year, after allegedly attacking police.

Internet information
The online encyclopedia Wikipedia has an entry supplying information about Victoria Police Critical Incident Response Team.  The item outlines what these teams are intended to do and how they are equipped.
The entry can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_Incident_Response_Team

The Barr Tribunal was a tribunal of inquiry into the facts and circumstances surrounding the fatal shooting of John Carthy at Abbeylara, Co Longford, Ireland, on 20th April 2000. The tribunal was is relevant to the Tyler Cassidy case as it clearly outlines the form of training that British and all similarly trained police officers receive in the event of their having to shot a member of the public.  This training is outlined at http://www.barrtribunal.ie/OpenStatement2.html
under the general heading The Decision to Fire and the Pathology and Neurology Reports

The online encyclopedia Wikipedia has an entry supplying information about the 'stun guns' known as tasers.  The entry explains how they work, where they are used and includes information about safety concerns regarding them and their capacity for misuse.
The full text of this entry can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taser

On December 12, 2008, the ABC's Local Radio program The World Today, included a detailed report on the shooting of Tyler Cassidy. The report includes comments from witnesses, the Assistant Commissioner, Tim Cartwright and from father Peter Norden of the Victorian Criminal Justice Coalition.  The full text of the report can be found at http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2008/s2444771.htm

On December 14, 2008, The Canberra Times published an editorial titled, 'Boy's killing shows up faults in police methods'.  The report is critical of the procedures followed in the Tyler Cassidy incident and suggest that the youth's death has lessons to teach other Australian police forces.  The full text of the editorial can be found at http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/opinion/editorial/general/boys-killing-shows-up-faults-in-police-methods/1385861.aspx?storypage=2

On December 17, 2008,  the World Socialist Web Site published a report titled. 'Australia: Police gun down 15-year-old boy'.  The report is extremely detailed and includes information from some witness accounts not supplied in other media sources.  It also gives background information on the number of police shootings in the twenty years prior to Tyler Cassidy's death.
Though informative, the report needs to be handled with some care, as it is clearly critical of the police response.
The full text of the report can be found at http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/dec2008/kill-d17.shtml

Arguments suggesting Victoria Police officers did not act appropriately
1. Tyler Cassidy was a minor
There has been significant concern at Tyler Cassidy's youth.  Critics of the police shooting note that the boy's  young age should have encouraged the police to treat him with leniency on a number of grounds.
Firstly there is the supposition that Tyler Cassidy's youth made him less of a threat.  A friend of the family noted, 'He is a little bloke, just a kid.'
Tyler Cassidy's mother, Shani Cassidy, has specifically claimed that her son was too young and small to pose a real threat to four armed police officers.  Mrs Cassidy has stated, 'He was only 5 foot 7 inches, [1.7 metres] he weighed only 58 kilograms and 10 bullets were fired at him. His life was taken from him unnecessarily and prematurely.'
One of the patrons of the hotel where Tyler Cassidy worked part-time as a kitchen hand has noted, 'He was just a young fellow, just a kid, I used to say hello...Why would the police shoot a 15-year-old? I mean he looked 15, you couldn't mistake he was a teenager.'
A family friend has also indicated that she believes the police over-reacted given the extent of the threat Tyler Cassidy posed.  She stated, 'I just can't believe there was four of them to one of him and they killed a 15-year-old boy.'
Secondly, Mrs Cassidy indicated that she had contacted the police because she wanted her young son protected.  She had not believed that the police would take his life.
Mrs Cassidy stated, 'I had faith that the system would protect him from harm. That system failed him.'
The Cassidy family issued a statement after Tyler's death, which included the following remarks. 'The entire family and friends of Tyler Cassidy are appalled at the actions by Victoria Police last night. Their heavy handedness and lack of negotiating skills at the scene of the shooting contributed to the untimely death of our beautiful 15-year-old.'

2. Tyler Cassidy did not have a history of violence
It has been claimed that Tyler Cassidy had no history of drug abuse, was not generally regarded as violent and had been in trouble with the law only once. Other than an assault charge, Tyler Cassidy had no significant criminal history.
This point has been made by Tyler Cassidy's mother who has stressed the youth and good nature of her son and disputed claims that he was a member of a racist group, Southern Cross Soldiers.  Mrs Cassidy has stated, 'He was a 15-year-old school boy. His views were still developing. He attended a multicultural school and many of Tyler's friends have come to my house in tears.'
A family friend, Amelia Sakellaropoulos, 14, said Tyler Cassidy was an outgoing person who made everyone laugh but had suffered the loss of his father two or three years ago. The anniversary of Tyler's father's death was the week before he was shot.
Amelia Sakellaropoulos further stated, 'It was the anniversary of his father's death about a week ago ... I don't know, he sort of kept it in more but (he was) never upset around me.'
Another family friend note d, ' The kid's been through a lot. His old man had died of cancer ... He was the gentlest kid ever.  He would just break down ever now and again when he couldn't handle it all.'
Rowena Bailey, manager of The Island, a vocational campus of Collingwood College where Tyler Cassidy had been studying, told AAP, 'Tyler was a lovely young man. He came to us about six weeks ago.  He was achieving enormous success. He was in our hospitality unit and doing very well, he showed great promise and was doing extremely well.
Tyler had many friends and was an easygoing boy.
It's a terrible shock because he was achieving. He was very well liked. He was an easygoing boy, in our environment, very easygoing, and he was very happy. He had a lot of friends and he was very happy.'

3. The Victoria Police did not appear to pursue all options available
There are a number of specialist groups within the Victoria Police who are trained and equipped to deal with especially challenging situations, such as mentally unstable people armed with knives.
Victoria Police have Critical Incident Response Teams (CIRTs).  CIRTs respond to incidents for which the general duties police are not trained or equipped to deal with, such as offenders armed with knives or potential suicides and 'suspect parcels'.
CIRT also respond to incidents including hostage situations, violent prisoner control or transfer, suspicious substance attacks.
In high risk situations CIRT response is to cordon and contain an area until the arrival of the Victoria Police Special Operations Group. CIRT officers have a range of specialised equipment and weapons in their inventory ranging from ballistic and tactical vests, shotguns, tasers, bean bag rounds and various OC (pepper spray) delivery systems.
Tyler Cassidy would appear to have been a young man for whom a CIRT response would have been appropriate.  It does  not appear that any attempt was made to summon a Critical Incident Response Team despite the fact that the police knew they were going to have to deal with an agitated young  man armed with more than one knife.

4. There may be a climate of aggression among Victoria Police officers
It has been suggested that Victoria Police no longer take sufficient care to avoid a violent response to emergency situations.
The Office of Police Integrity (OPI) is an independent body charged with overseeing Victoria Police. The OPI issued a 2005 report that raised concerns about Victoria Police's ongoing commitment to the implementation of its 'safety first' strategy, which arose out of Operation Beacon. This approach states that 'the success of an operation will be primarily judged on the extent to which the use of force is avoided or minimised'.
The OPI report is concerned that this non-violent approach is being forgotten. It warned three years ago of 'a gradual shift in attention since the implementation of Project Beacon (that) could allow the re-emergence of a culture among police which is overly reliant on firearms'.
The Herald Sun published an exclusive report in December 2008, commenting on a Police Victoria recruitment video which appears to use aggression and violent encounters as an inducement to officers to work in particularly challenging station.  The Herald Sun report states, 'A Victoria Police video is using images of violent clashes with drunks and a confrontation with soccer hooligans to recruit officers to work in a city station.
The internal "BlueTube" film, seen by the Herald Sun, suggests suburban police sit around yawning, longing for action in the city.'
Critics have suggested such images simply encourages the police to respond violently, rather than seek other means of containing threatening situations.

5. Victoria Police officers are not adequately trained to deal with such emergencies
It has been suggested that the death of Tyler Cassidy indicates that Victoria Police are not properly trained to deal with such emergencies.  In particular it has been noted that police are inadequately trained in containment procedures.  By this is meant that the police do not know how to close off a potentially dangerous person until specialist help can be got.  It has also been claimed that some of the actions the police take, such as using capsicum spray, may actually make an agitated or mentally unstable person more dangerous.
Colleen Lewis, associate professor in the criminal justice department, Monash University, has stated. 'Training programs should ... be designed to better equip officers with the skills needed to undertake an initial risk assessment followed by a planned response; outline how to apply more effectively "operations safety principles", particularly those related to cordon and containment; and how to avoid inappropriate responses to incidents involving knives and other edged weapons.
Training also needs to include tactics for overcoming a tendency to use capsicum spray in inappropriate situations and the introduction of courses to greatly improve police officers' understanding of the symptoms of mental illness or disorder and how to respond to them.'
Similar points were made in relation to Australian police generally in an editorial published in The Canberra Times on December 14, 2008.  The editorial states, 'The efficacy of "police procedures" has failed in similar incidents across the country. In our own city, for example, a man having a psychotic episode and wielding a bamboo stake in the quiet suburb of Chapman was shot by a police officer and left a quadriplegic. He is now suing the federal and ACT governments.
More broadly, research by the Office of Police Integrity in 2005 revealed an increase in the reliance on firearms by police. Clearly, more needs to be done to help police deal with unstable, emotional, violent or mentally ill suspects.
Calls for an extensive review of police training techniques should not fall on deaf ears...
There is a much bigger picture to be viewed from Tyler Cassidy's death. One can only hope the investigation into the shooting will force a broader review of the avenues available to police when dealing with unpredictable assailants.
As Tyler's mother, Shani Cassidy, said in a statement last night: "I had faith that the system would protect him from harm. That system failed him."'
In a statement Tyler Cassidy's family issued after his death, they stated, 'It should have been dealt with differently and more compassionately, but tragically resulted in Tyler's death that should have been avoided.'

Arguments suggesting Victoria Police officers acted appropriately
1. Tyler Cassidy was armed and appeared a danger to public safety
It  has been reported that Tyler Cassidy had left home in an agitated state. He had apparently tried to take a couple of knives from the family home but was disarmed. His mother is then said to have contacted the police, after her son went out, because she was concerned about his safety.  Tyler Cassidy is then reported to have gone to a local Kmart store where he stole two kitchen knives.
Assistant Commissioner Tim Cartwright stated, 'Not long before he'd tried to arm himself with two knives at the family home, this is what the family has told us. They'd disarmed him. He'd left the house in an agitated state and gone to the shopping plaza where we believe he's taken two knives from Kmart.'
Police have requested surveillance footage from inside the Kmart store, which is believed to show the boy slashing boxes in an agitated state.
A witness who saw Tyler Cassidy in the street stated, 'There was a kid and he had two big cleaver knives, but first I turned around because he screamed, he did a really kind of big roar.  And then he was like walking really kind of angrily along with these two knives.'
The same witness also stated, 'From what I could tell, he looked like he was either incredibly angry or on ice or something. I thought perhaps he had a vendetta.'
Police were called to the Northcote Plaza Shopping Centre car park about 9.20pm after receiving up to four calls from the public about an agitated male carrying knives. It has been claimed that a number of members of the public clearly felt that Tyler Cassidy was dangerous.
Someone who knew Tyler Cassidy before his death has claimed that the youth had a violent temper.   The man told the Herald Sun that unless the police shot Tyler, he would have made good on his threat to kill the officer.
The man claimed that Tyler fell in with the wrong crowd and had befriended a group of skinheads.  He said Tyler was known for his sporadic violence.
'Minor things such as randomly attacking people he did not like the look of or acting tough and starting fights with anyone he could.  He was always angry and after trying to help him out for longer than anyone else I know more than anyone I know he was beyond help.
Since he joined the SCS [Southern Cross Soldiers] and started hanging out with some mates he called "skinhead mates" he started drinking excessively and getting much more violent.
The officers that shot him most definitely had good reason with the way he was and if they didn't do what they did he wouldn't have stopped,' the former associate told The Herald Sun.
It has also been suggested that Tyler Cassidy may have wanted to be shot.  The police have indicated they are investigating a theory that the teenager planned to die in a 'suicide by cop' stand-off.  Two emergency calls were made to the police from Tyler Cassidy's mobile phone.  In one the caller stated,'Get the cops. I am killing people tonight.' The same caller is the believed to have rung back pretending to be a panicked witness, screaming there was a man with a shotgun who needed to be killed.

2. Tyler Cassidy directly threatened the officers
It has been claimed that Tyler Cassidy directly threatened the police officers before he was shot.  Tyler Cassidy was armed with two kitchen knives he is believed to have stolen from a nearby K-Mart store. Before going out on the street he had apparently tried to take knives from the family home, but was disarmed. Tyler Cassidy reportedly called,  'Kill me, I'm going to kill you,' as officers warned him to put down his weapons. A witness has said the teenager looked like he was high on drugs, and was 'terrifying' before he was killed.
Assistant Commissioner Tim Cartwright told reporters that the officers were forced to act as they did. 'They've ultimately had no choice,' Mr Cartwright has said.
Mr Cartwright revealed one of the police officers was apparently backed into a stairway as he tried to calm the situation, before this officer and others opened fire. 'The suggestion is that he backed off and he came to the stairs where he couldn't back off any further,' Mr Cartwright has stated.  
The Assistant Commissioner summed up the situation as, 'This happens in a matter of seconds. You've got police who are backing off. You've got a young man extremely agitated with two knives. Three of them obviously saw the need to fire on him.'
It is claimed that the police officers only shot Tyler Cassidy when one or more of their number was in immediate danger of attack.

3. The officers had tried to disarm the young man without resorting to violence
It has been claimed that the police officers who approached Tyler Cassidy did everything they reasonably could to disarm him without using lethal force.  
The officers reportedly repeatedly asked Tyler Cassidy to put down his weapons.  When Tyler Cassidy did not do as he was asked the officers twice sprayed him with capsicum spray, hoping they would then be able to safely disarm him.  The youth was not, however, affected by the spray in a way that allowed him to be safely apprehended.
One of the officers is also claimed to have fired a shot into the ground. The apparent intention was to warn Tyler Cassidy that if he did not surrender his weapons he would be shot.  Tyler Cassidy did not appear to respond to this warning and did not put down his weapons.
The whole episode is reported to have occurred very quickly, apparently in no more than about three minutes.  Spokespeople for Victoria Police have claimed that in the time available to them and with the resources they had at their disposal the four police officers involved did everything they could to avoid having to shoot Tyler Cassidy.
Assistant Police Commissioner, Tim Cartwright, has stated, 'We train our police members. They've foamed him [with capsicum foam], they talked to him and they've done what they can [before he was shot]. It's a dreadful event.'

4. The officers were not equipped with taser guns
The officers of Victoria Police are not routinely supplied with tasers or other forms of stun equipment. It has therefore been claimed that they used every option they had available to them.  They warned; they fired a warning shot into the ground; they used capsicum foam three times.
Only special operations police and critical response officers are equipped with taser guns in Victoria. The incident involving Tyler Cassidy developed too quickly for a special team to be called to the scene.  It has been claimed that the officers on the scene took every action available to them in order to avoid using lethal force.
The Police Union has called on the State Government and Victoria Police to issue taser guns to police.
Inspector McKenzie said the Police Association has been campaigning for tasers for some time.
The Inspector has stated, 'The Police Association has been pushing for a long time for all of our operational members to be issued with tasers, so we're obviously disappointed that hasn't been the case. We would hope that the (police) force and the Government will take the necessary steps to ensure that tasers are issued as soon as possible.'
Inspector McKenzie said tasers should be issued to all operational police so that they are less reliant on their firearms.

5. Victoria Police officers are trained to fire at the body if they have to shoot
It has been noted that the police officers who shot Tyler Cassidy were following their training when they shot him in the body.
Assistant Commissioner Tim Cartwright said the police officers followed training that taught them to aim for the 'central body mass' of an attacker. Mr Cartwright stated, 'In the movies you can shoot to disarm people, but that's not what happens in our experience.'
It has been claimed that the training received by Victoria Police is standard in many other countries around the world. 'Our training has always been that way and that's consistent with training across the world,' Assistant Commissioner Tim Cartwright has stated.
In other jurisdictions police officers are trained to shoot for the largest available target or central body mass, once they have made the decision to fire.  This is explained by the Association of Chief Police Officers of England, Wales and Northern Ireland in Chapter 5 of its "Manual of Guidance on Police Use of Firearms", published in January 2001.  The manual states:
'5.1 When it is considered necessary to open fire on a subject, police officers need to shoot to stop an immediate threat to life.  Research has indicated that only shots hitting the central nervous system (which is largely located in the central body mass) are likely to be effective in achieving rapid incapacitation.  Shots which strike other parts of the body cannot be depended upon to achieve this.
5.2 Research has also shown that the accuracy of shots fired under training conditions is generally greater than in operational circumstances.  Police officers are therefore normally trained to fire at the largest part of the target they can see, which in most cases will be the central body mass.'
The same training is also given in New Zealand.  'New Zealand police policy is that when it is necessary to shoot a person, the shots are to be placed to incapacitate that person as quickly as possible and thereby neutralise the threat.  Incapacitation is best brought about by shots to the chest area - it is the easiest place to hit.  There is no policy of shooting to wound.  This policy has been upheld in a number of enquiries into New Zealand police shootings.'

Further implications
The Homicide Squad, the Police Special Investigations Unit and the Coroner are investigating Tyler Cassidy's death.
The Police Union has already called for all officers to be issued with tasers and has suggested that their use may have prevented Tyler Cassidy's death.  The Assistant Commissioner, Tim Cartwright, stated, immediately after Tyler Cassidy's death that Victoria Police had not ruled out the more general use of tasers.  However, on December 14, 2008, the Victorian premier, John Brumby, indicated that there was no immediate intention to issue Victoria Police officers with tasers. (Special operations officers already have access to the guns.)

Mr Brumby said Victoria Police often reviewed its practices but Taser stun guns were not on the agenda. 'There's no proposal for any change in practice or policy . . . ,' he said.
Mr Brumby said he was shocked and concerned at Tyler's death, but wanted to wait for the police and coroner's report before commenting. 'You hope and pray that incidents like this don't occur but tragically, sometimes they do occur,' he said. 'The best thing we can do is to take a step back and objectively look at all of the circumstances, and all of the facts and then when we have all those, move forward.'
In 1994, the state coroner, Hal Hallenstein delivered his findings on seven earlier fatal police shootings. He determined that no police officer was criminally responsible, although they contributed to the outcome by positioning themselves in such a way that they had no alternative but to shoot the victim.
Tyler Cassidy's death seems to suggest that not enough has changed in the last fourteen years. There have been calls for improved training of all Victoria Police officers so that they are better able to recognise the demands of particular hazardous situations and respond appropriately. Cordoning and containing armed or dangerous people appears to be an area in which officers need further training.  The suggestion has also been made that capsicum spray is being used hazardously, as is has the capacity to make mentally disturbed, drug-affected or otherwise agitated people worse.
These are interesting observations.  What they suggest is that weapons, per se, may not be the answer.  Capsicum spray has to be appropriately used to be effective.  The same appears to be true of tasers. Used inappropriately they can cause injury and in extreme cases death.
It would appear that training in situation analysis and appropriate tactical responses is necessary if injuries and deaths are to be kept to a minimum.

Newspaper items used in the compilation of this issue outline
The Age:  December 13, Insight section, page 6, editorial, `Fatal shooting raises old, unanswered questions'.
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/editorial/fatal-shooting-raises-old-unanswered-question-20081212-6xiy.html

The Age:  December 13, page 4, background analysis (photo) by John Silvester, `Shooting reignites debate on police tactics and use of Taser stun guns'.
http://www.theage.com.au/national/shooting-reignites-debate-on-police-tactics-and-use-of-taser-stun-guns-20081212-6xkx.html

The Age:  December 13, page 1, news item (photo) by John Silvester et al, `Two knives, three alarmed police officers and a "scared little boy" lies dead in seconds'.
http://www.theage.com.au/national/two-knives-three-alarmed-police-officers-and-a-scared-little-boy-lies-dead-in-seconds-20081212-6xnm.html

The Age, December 12,  comment, 'Statement from the family of Tyler Cassidy' (Statement in full - only excerpts appear in printed paper.)

The Australian, December 13,  page 3, analysis (with photo, video) by Julie-Anne Davies and Miranda Rout, 'Call for answers after cops kill 15-year-old Tyler Cassidy'
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24792760-5006785,00.html

The Herald Sun, December 13,  editorial, 'Death calls for an answer'
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24791016-24218,00.html

The Age:  December 20, page 1, news item by Farah Farouque, `"My son did not want to die, that's not what he wanted"'.
http://www.theage.com.au/national/my-son-did-not-want-to-die-20081219-72dm.html

The Age:  December 17, page 7, news item by Andrea Petrie, `Amnesty concern over stun guns'.
http://www.theage.com.au/national/amnesty-concern-over-stun-guns-20081216-6zuo.html

Herald-Sun: December 16, page 6, news item by Brendan Roberts, `Tyler's erratic last hours'.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24805590-2862,00.html

The Age:  December 16, page 3, news items by Silvester and Petrie, `Police shot first to hit Tyler's legs / Witness lament for teen'.
http://www.theage.com.au/national/police-shot-first-to-hit-tylers-legs-20081215-6z1r.html
http://www.theage.com.au/national/witness-lament-for-teen-20081215-6z1u.html

Herald-Sun: December 15, page 1, news item (photos) by Buttler and Mitchell, `Brumby rules out stun guns'.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24799700-661,00.html

The Australian: December 15, page 3, news item by Julie-anne Davies, `Police training slammed as shooting scene becomes shrine'.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24799936-5006785,00.html

The Age:  December 14, page 1, news item (photos) by Houston and Russell, `"They didn't have to shoot my boy"'.
http://www.theage.com.au/national/they-didnt-have-to-shoot-my-boy-20081213-6xxt.html

The Age:  December 14, page 2, news items by Gary Tippet et al, `Police firearms protocol called into question / Twisted national pride of the Southern Cross Soldiers'.
http://www.theage.com.au/national/police-firearms-protocol-called-into-question-20081213-6xxv.html

Herald-Sun: December 13, page 1, news item (photo) by Mark Buttler et al, `Driven by hate'.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24792326-661,00.html

The Age, December 14,  comment by Colleen Lewis, 'This tragedy proves better police training is essential'
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/this-tragedy-proves-better-police-training-is-essential-20081213-6xvy.html

The Herald Sun, December 18,  comment by Jill Singer, 'Online MySpace 'mates' let Tyler Cassidy down'
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,24815302-5007146,00.html