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A 60-year-old man is Prison Tres Speciale Pour Femmesin serious condition after he rammed his burning car into the Merrylands police station in Sydney on Thursday night.

He told police that he had a bomb, according to the ABC. In reality, he had two cylinders filled with gasoline. But that was enough to spark speculation about a terrorist attack -- including online, where #Merrylands began trending.

Later, people from all sides of the political spectrum would become critical of the media’s handling of the incident, especially the backflip in language that took place.

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In a couple of hours, the incident went from being referred to as an "attempted terror attack" to a situation caused by mental illness.

It all started with a tweet from an ABC reporter.

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And with that, media outlets went HAM on air and online, with headlines stating the event was an alleged terrorist attack. One outlet even livestreamed the scene.

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Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

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Some Twitter users were quick to make the link between the assumption of a terrorist attack and the suburb of Merrylands’ substantial Muslim population. Queensland politician George Christensen immediately put out a statement blaming radical Islam.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

But within a few hours, police stated that they believed the incident to be mental-health related. More details were released.

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The man was middle-aged, of Croatian heritage and known to police because he had an AVO (restraining order) out against him, due to alleged violence toward a family member. Not quitethe portrait of a radicalised Islamist youth.

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And so, the headlines changed. Most used less dramatic language like "Man drives car with gas cylinders into police station."

And boy, did people notice.

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Meanwhile, MP George Christensen was forced to redact (kind of) his above statement, saying, "New reports in [sic] state that surprisingly for Merrylands, this incident may not have been a terrorist attack as the ABC originally reported it to be. News is still rolling in, so we will see ... I say again: we need to discuss the rise of radical Islam within Australia and the threat it poses to national security."

The remaining question implied by many Twitter users is obvious: What informs the media's distinction between a terrorist and other labels, like "mentally ill man"? Because if it's race, maybe that's worth questioning?

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

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