A Queensland police officer is in a serious but stable condition in hospital this morning after he was allegedly stabbed multiple times by a man known to him at a shopping centre.
The 50-year-old senior constable was patrolling near Cairns Central when he noticed the man in a stairwell yesterday afternoon.
He approached the man, aged 22, and an “altercation” occurred, during which the officer was stabbed multiple times, Superintendent Chris Hodgman said.
The officer suffered wounds to his stomach, chest and a punctured lung and underwent surgery at Cairns Base Hospital.
The 22-year-old allegedly involved was later found at another address about half an hour away in Bungalow, where he was arrested.
He’s since been charged with four offences including grievous bodily harm.
Superintendent Hodgman said the alleged attack was targeted.
“There’s no comparable attacks like this in Cairns, Cairns is a safe place,” he told Today.
“This was an offence against a police officer and one of our brothers in blue, unfortunately. We consider it was a targeted attack to escape arrest.
“This was an unfortunate encounter between (an alleged) criminal and police officer doing his job, keeping the Cairns community safe.”
A search is now underway for the knife allegedly used.
Yesterday he called the incident a “very, very sad day”.
“This is an abhorrent crime against one of our officers in blue,” he said.
This content first appear on 9news