Man dead, another critically injured in stabbing and police shooting in Hillside, Melbourne

One man has died and another was critically injured in a stabbing and police shooting which police believe involved a father and stepson in Melbourne’s northwest.

A 61-year-old man identified only as Tony Di Falco was found with stab wounds on the front lawn of his home on Chris Crt, Hillside about 6.50am on Friday.

Attempts to save his life with CPR were unsuccessful, and he died at the scene.

While attending to Di Falco, police heard screams from inside the home.

When they went inside, officers were confronted by a 32-year-old Preston man believed to be the victim’s stepson, who was carrying a knife, detective inspector Dean Thomas said.

A shot was fired at the man, however, it is unclear if he was hit at that time.

Police, and a 27-year-old pregnant woman believed to be the offender’s sister and the Di Falco’s stepdaughter, who was also inside, left the house, but the armed man again confronted officers outside, Thomas said.

Thomas said the officers tried to keep their distance as the man followed them down the street, where he allegedly damaged a police car and slashed one of its tyres.

The armed man then came at the officers again, Thomas said.

“They were engaging with him to drop the knife and several shots were fired by one of our members which hit the offender and the offender dropped to the ground,” Thomas said.

The 32-year-old man was taken to The Royal Melbourne Hospital under police guard and remains in a critical but stable condition with injuries to his upper and lower body.

It is unclear how many shots were fired by police, with the use of force forming part of the ongoing investigation.

The stepsister, who Thomas said was “heavily pregnant”, was taken to hospital as a precaution.

“We are treating this as a family violence incident,” Thomas said.

He said the alleged offender had turned up to the home “unannounced”.

It is understood mental health issues may be involved, as Di Falco’s stepson has a history of mental health issues.

Police are also investigating whether an axe was used, Thomas said.

“We have a lot of work ahead of us to understand why was he here today, what was his purpose in being here,” he said.

Thomas said the scene was “very confronting and distressing” and the officer who fired acted accordingly.

“From what I have seen, although it’s still early in the investigation, they appear to have done everything they could and they appear to have followed policy,” he said.

“Nobody comes to work wanting to be involved in an incident like that.”

The Armed Crime Squad will investigate the police shooting with oversight by Professional Standards Command.

‘A phone call we did not expect’

Di Falco’s younger brother Nick told 7NEWS the 61-year-old had just beaten cancer and was planning to start a new life and build a home at the beach.

“He never got a chance,” he said.

“Tony always thought about his family, he had a big heart.

“He was a nice bloke, he was a nice brother, he was a nice father.”

Of five siblings, Tony was the clown of the family, his sister Laura said.

“He always .... made everybody laugh.

“He had so much character, full of jokes, we are going to miss that.

“We’re still trying to process why, it’s a phone call we did not expect this morning.”

Anyone with any information about what happened has been urged to come forward.