Finding into death of Christopher Polden

Sally-Anne Wills: multiple stab wounds to the chest; Christopher Polden: single stab wound to right upper abdomen; Mohammed Ibrahim: gunshot wounds to chest, abdomen and left upper leg

This inquest examined three deaths resulting from random violent attacks on 11-12 March 2020 in Melbourne. Mohammed Ibrahim fatally stabbed Sally-Anne Wills (30) and Christopher Polden (59), and stabbed two others non-fatally, before being shot and killed by police. The coroner found no evidence of missed warning flags; Ibrahim was unknown to intelligence agencies and had no criminal history, though family members reported possible untreated mental health concerns including reported auditory hallucinations and paranoid ideation following family separation. While insufficient evidence definitively linked mental illness to the attacks, the coroner could not exclude psychiatric illness as a contributing factor. The police shooting was deemed justified and compliant with operational procedures. The case highlights the challenges of identifying threat risk in individuals with possible untreated mental health issues who present no obvious prior indicators to authorities.