Story highlights 29-year-old may have lured police to apartments by taking a hostage

Australian PM says the attacker had a long history of violent crime

(CNN) A former terror suspect with a "long record of violence" took a sex worker hostage in a suburban Australian apartment building Monday, in what police say may have been an attempt to lure law enforcement to a gunfight.

One man was killed, and three police officers injured, as a result of the hostage standoff in the Melbourne suburb of Brighton, which ended after the attacker -- since named as 29-year-old Yacub Khayre -- was shot dead by police.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told reporters Tuesday the attack was being treated as a terrorist incident, saying it had "shocked all Australians."

"This terrorist attack by a known criminal, a man who was only recently released on parole, is a shocking, cowardly crime. It is a terrorist attack and it underlines the need for us to be constantly vigilant," he said.

Turnbull said Khayre had been previously known to police, and had links to extremist organizations. "He had a long record of violence, a very long record of violence, he had been charged with a terrorist offense ... and acquitted. He was known to have connections, at least in the past, with violent extremism," he said.

Read More