Queensland police are treating a double homicide and a police shooting in southern Brisbane as a "terrorism event" and have warned people to check on their relatives in the area.
Raghe Abdi, 22, allegedly threatened police with a knife before being shot on the Logan Motorway at Drewvale on Thursday morning.
Abdi, who had allegedly been influenced by Somali extremist group al-Shabab, was on bail and had previously been arrested by counterterrorism officers.
Police say Abdi is directly linked to the deaths of a 87-year-old man and an 86-year-old woman, whose bodies were found with significant injuries in a home at Parkinson on Thursday afternoon.
Queensland Police Deputy Commissioner Tracy Linford says Abdi's property was found at couple's home, and items belonging to them were also found on him after he was shot dead.
"As a consequence of this investigation, and what we have now gleaned to date, we are treating this matter as a terrorism event," Commissioner Linford told reporters.
"And I want to stress that nothing else has been uncovered at this point in time that would indicate that there are any other persons involved in this terrorism event."
Commissioner Linford said the events had been reclassified as a terrorist incident due to Abdi's history, because the shooting indicated he wanted to harm police, and as a result of his links to the double deaths.
"When you put all those things together I think it's pretty clear that we need to treat this as a terrorism event, and as such, we'll make sure that we have that lens over what would normally be a homicide investigation," she said.
Police have been doorknocking in Parkinson, where Abdi first removed his GPS tracking device on Wednesday afternoon, to find any further witnesses to the violent events.
Officers are concerned about the welfare of local residents after finding the elderly couple's bodies.
"If you have family living in that Parkinson area it would be a good time to check in on them and make sure that they're okay," Commissioner Linford said.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk cut short her beach holiday to reassure people that it was an isolated incident with police suspecting that only Abdi was involved.
"So there is no need for the Queensland community to be concerned," she said.
"I have every faith in both Queensland Police and the Australian Federal Police dealing with this issue."
The AFP suspect Abdi had been influenced by al-Shabab when he was arrested on suspicion of an attempted foreign incursion while 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.
AFP Assistant Commissioner Scott Lee said before the incident there was no indication there would be an escalation of violence or that Abdi posed a threat to the community.
"Certainly, up until this point, the information that we had was that his focus had been primarily focused in terms of offshore, an offshore threat not an onshore threat."
The Ethical Standards Command is investigating the shooting with oversight by the Crime and Corruption Commission.
