Teenager is charged with terrorism offenses in stabbings of bishop and priest at Sydney church

By MARK BAKER and KEIRAN SMITH
Associated Press

SYDNEY (AP) — A 16-year-old boy accused of stabbing two Christian clerics during a Sydney church service has been charged by police with terrorism offenses. Authorities said the stabbing was declared a terrorist act because of the teen’s suspected religious motivation and that the boy traveled up to 90 minutes from his home to Christ the Good Shepherd Church in Sydney’s western suburbs. The boy’s lawyer said at a court hearing Friday that the boy had a “long history of behavior” consistent with a mental illness or intellectual disability, and his family says he had shown no prior signs of radicalization.