Westfield Bondi Junction Shopping Center in Sydney, Australia.
Sydney Morning Herald | Fairfax Media | Getty Images
An attacker who stabbed five people to death in a Sydney mall was shot dead by police in the Sydney coastal suburb of Bondi on Saturday, while hundreds fled the scene, police said.
Police said the attacker was shot by a police officer after he clashed with nine people at the busy Westfield Bondi Junction shopping centre.
“You discharged a firearm and this individual has now died. I have learned that there are five victims who have now died as a result of this offender's actions,” NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Anthony Cook told a news conference.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said there was no indication yet of the man's motives. “This was a horrific act of violence, indiscriminately targeting innocent people who were shopping on an ordinary Saturday,” he told a news conference.
“Tonight the first thoughts of all Australians are with the victims of these terrible acts.” Australia has some of the strictest gun and knife laws in the world, and attacks like the one on Saturday are rare.
“in a state of agitation”
Police said emergency services were called to the mall just before 4pm (0600 GMT) after reports of a stabbing. A New South Wales Ambulance spokesman said eight people, including a child, were taken to hospital.
Reyes Colmenares, an eyewitness 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 told Reuters: “The mother was terrified, she was sad, and she was holding her baby and calming him down.” Two other witnesses told Reuters they heard gunfire.
“Even 20 minutes after people left the mall, I saw SWAT teams of people sweeping the surrounding streets,” one witness said.
The other said they saw a woman lying on the ground and taking refuge in a jewelry store. An eyewitness described the police officer shooting the attacker to state broadcaster ABC. The unnamed man said: “If you had not shot him, he would have continued walking. He was on a rampage.”
“She went up to him and was giving him CPR. He had a nice big blade on him. He looked like he was in murder mode.”
Several social media posts showed crowds fleeing the mall and police cars and emergency services rushing to the area.
