Two brothers camping on the Murray River have been shot by police after confronting officers with a knife and tomahawk.
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The pair, 19 and 30, had been under the scrutiny of counter terrorism police who called for the help of Wodonga colleagues after finding the men at a Barnawartha North petrol station, near the Victoria-NSW border.
The duo later rammed a police car at Richardsons Bend camping ground before confronting the Wodonga officers
One brother was shot soon after leaving their car, while the other one was shot after negotiations, capsicum spray and a Taser hit failed to subdue him.
The pair both have serious injuries with one in hospital in Melbourne and the other in Albury.
Acting Assistant Commissioner Clive Rust said the homicide squad and police professional standards were investigating.
"We're treating this as a violent attack on police members, not as a terrorism incident," Mr Rust said.
He said the brothers had recently moved to Victoria from NSW and intelligence was being gathered on them by the specialist police.
"They were attempting to locate and identify these two men who they knew to be up in the Barnawartha area, they were making routine inquiries in order to touch base with them, talk to them, assess them, and make a judgement on whether they posed any risk," Mr Rust said.
"It was purely a chance meeting that they identified their car at a service station."
Uniform police from the Wodonga district attempted to intercept the vehicle containing the two men on Old Barnawartha Road, near Richardsons Bend Camping Ground, about 3pm.
"The driver has rammed the police vehicle and both occupants have got out of the car armed with edged weapons," a police statement said.
"As police have approached the men, one of the occupants moved towards the officers and he was shot.
"Police attempted to negotiate with the second man who refused to put down his weapon.
"He has been sprayed with capsicum spray and tasered however neither had any effect and he was then shot.
"Counter Terrorism Command (CTC) detectives were in north-eastern Victoria gathering intelligence when they sought assistance from local police to locate two persons of interest.
"The CTC detectives were not in the area in relation to any planned direct threat to the Victorian community."