Sydney Police said they shot dead the attacker, after he stabbed 5 people to death in the mall, in the beach suburb of Bondi, on Saturday, while hundreds fled the scene.
Security forces said that a policewoman shot the attacker after he clashed with 9 people in the crowded Westfield Bundegan shopping centre.
New South Wales Police Assistant Commissioner Anthony Cook told a press conference: “The police officer shot the person and he died. She reported that there were 5 victims who died due to the actions of this offender.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said there was no indication yet of the man's motives.
He added in a press conference: “This was a horrific act of violence that randomly targeted innocent people who were shopping on an ordinary Saturday. The hearts of all Australians tonight are with the victims of these terrible acts.”
Australia has some of the strictest gun and firearms laws in the world, and such an attack is rare.
What happened?
- Reyes Colmenares, a witness who hid in a hardware store with 20 others when people started running out of the mall, said she saw a child with stab wounds being carried into the ambulance.
- She explained to Reuters: “The mother was terrified and sad, and she was holding a child and calming him down.”
- Two other witnesses told Reuters they heard gunfire.
- One of them added: “Twenty minutes after people left the mall, I saw people from the SWAT teams combing the surrounding streets.”
- The other reported seeing a woman on the ground taking shelter in a jewelry store.
- A witness described the policewoman shooting the attacker to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, saying of the unnamed man: “If the policewoman had not shot him, he would have continued what he was doing. He was in a state of madness.”
- She added: “The policewoman approached him and performed CPR on him. He was carrying a large, polished knife.”
- Several posts on social media showed crowds fleeing the center, and police cars and emergency services rushing to the area.
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