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Knife-wielding Vic man shot dead by police

Callum GoddeAAP
A man has been fatally shot by police after allegedly confronting them with a knife in Victoria.
Camera IconA man has been fatally shot by police after allegedly confronting them with a knife in Victoria.

A man has been shot dead after stealing a car at knifepoint and leading police on a dramatic chase through Victoria's Gippsland region.

The 31-year-old man, who lived in the Morwell area, was shot after crashing the Audi station wagon into parked cars and a guard rail on Princes Way at Drouin, 100 kilometres east of Melbourne.

It is alleged he got out of the wrecked vehicle and confronted a sergeant and three senior constables with a knife, refusing repeated demands to put it down before a male officer shot him twice.

He died at the scene.

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Assistant Commissioner Glenn Weir said the offender was known to police, but was not aware of him being wanted for any other crimes.

The four officers involved in the shooting, all from the Baw Baw police service area, have been left "extremely shaken".

"No one goes to work and thinks they are going to have to be placed in that position," Mr Weir told reporters at Drouin.

"But they've undertaken immediate action following a really serious criminal offence.

"They've taken action as per their training to try and apprehend the offender for a really violent series of offences."

Earlier, a 3AW caller, Brock, said he saw the man running at officers with a weapon.

"The police were yelling at him to drop it. He didn't drop it and they shot him twice," he said.

The shooting followed an armed carjacking earlier on Thursday morning at a car park in Mirboo North, about 60km from Drouin.

Mr Weir said the same man used a knife to take the vehicle by force.

Its male owner was uninjured but shocked.

"It's certainly a terrifying experience," Mr Weir said.

"In a quiet part of south Gippsland early in the morning, to be confronted with an offender armed with a knife and to have your car taken is really terrifying."

The stolen car was later spotted driving dangerously through the Latrobe Valley before officers began pursuing on the Princes Freeway.

It travelled through Morwell, Traralgon, Churchill and Drouin with police keen to speak to anyone who saw the erratic silver Audi station wagon.

Homicide squad detectives are interviewing the four officers involved in the shooting and a report will be prepared for the coroner.

Drouin has a population of more than 11,000 and is one of the biggest towns in the west Gippsland area.

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