Six people died and several more were injured this Saturday in a knife attack perpetrated in a shopping center in Sydney (Australia) by a man who was killed by Australian police.
The tragedy occurred at the Westfield Bondi Junction shopping center, that It was packed with customers at the time.
New South Wales Police Commissioner Karen Webb detailed that five women and one man died in the attack. Among the injured, there is also a nine-month-old baby, who is undergoing surgery.
Eight people had to be hospitalized, according to emergency services.
The moments of panic that occurred in the shopping center
According to the police report, The assailant entered the popular Westfield Bondi Junction shopping center at 3:10 p.m. local time, He left shortly after and returned about ten minutes later, when he attacked several people with a knife.
The injuries caused the immediate death of four women and a man, while another stabbed woman died hours later in the hospital.
After receiving the alert call, A police inspector went to the scene, where she confronted the aggressor, that he turned towards her with a knife in his hand, so the agent “fired a firearm” at him. The agent performed resuscitation maneuvers on the suspect while she waited for medical personnel, who were unable to revive him.
Images from security cameras, broadcast by local media, show a man running through the shopping center with a large knife in the hand, and several injured people lying on the ground.
Several witnesses described scenes of panic, with people running for cover and police trying to take control of the situation.
It was scary, there were small children, elderly people and others in wheelchairs
Ayush Singh was working at a coffee shop when everything happened. “I saw it all before me,” he said to AFP. “I saw a lot of people running, the guy with the knife, and people running away.”
Singh helped two elderly ladies who were having coffee to hide inside the premises. He then heard three gunshots, and then saw the man lying on the ground. “He was very scary,” he said. “I've been here for six years, I never felt in danger but now I'm scared.”
Pranjul Bokaria, another witness, said he was leaving work and doing some shopping when the attack occurred. He ran to a nearby store and took shelter in a break room.
“It was horrible, there were people crying,” he told AFP the woman, who finally escaped from the place along with other customers and employees through an emergency exit that led to a back street. “I am alive and grateful,” she said.
“They made us go down” to a room “and they closed the store. It was scary, there were small children, elderly people and others in wheelchairs,” said another woman who was going to the gym when the attack began.
What is known about the attacker
Police say the attacker was a 40-year-old man. known to the security services, although he has not yet been formally identified.
Webb downgraded the terrorist trail, saying that The attacker appears to have acted alone, As the Australian Prime Minister previously said, Anthony Albanese. “If it really is the person we believe, in that case (…) it is not a terrorist incident“, the commissioner explained.
“The investigation – he added – will be underway for many days, but there are elements that at this moment do not indicate that,” he added regarding the possibility that it was a terrorist act.
“We believe this person acted alone and there are no threats against the community at this time,” Webb added, noting that Nothing suggests that the murderer had planned to act against a specific person.
These types of attacks are quite unusual in Australia. In November 2018, an individual armed with a knife killed one person and injured two others on a Melbourne street, before being shot dead by police. The crime was claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group.
The shopping center will remain closed to the public this Sunday while the Police continue their investigations.
AFP and EFE
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