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A 95-year-old woman who was tasered by Australian police at a retirement home is in critical condition. The police were called on Wednesday to the old people's home, about 300 kilometers southwest of Sydney, because a resident with a knife was standing in front of her room.

Two police officers spoke to the resident, Clare Nowland, for several minutes, but she did not drop the knife. When Nowland approached the emergency services, one of them shot at the woman with a taser.

Nowland was hit twice, according to the Canberra Times.

The incident raises questions because Nowland apparently approached the police officers with a walker. The 95-year-old suffers from dementia and had previously wandered around the facility for hours, then she took the knife, police said.

The officer who fired the Taser was suspended from duty.

kha/Reuters