Police report that a man fatally stabbed six people at a busy shopping center in Sydney on Saturday before being shot and killed by police. Multiple individuals, including a young child, were also wounded in the attack.
According to New South Wales Assistant Police Commissioner Anthony Cooke, the suspect stabbed nine people at the Westfield Shopping Centre in Bondi Junction, located in the city’s eastern suburbs. A police inspector shot the suspect after he turned and raised a knife. Six victims and the suspect lost their lives. Police have not provided specific details about the condition of the injured.
Cooke stated that authorities believe the suspect acted alone and assured the public that there is no ongoing threat. However, officials have not yet identified the perpetrator. Cooke described the situation as “quite raw” and stated that a comprehensive investigation is underway.
He said there was “nothing that we are aware of at the scene that would indicate any motive or any ideology.” When asked whether officials were ruling out terrorism, he said: “We’re not ruling anything out.”
Cooke mentioned that the police inspector, a senior officer, acted alone when she confronted the suspect and swiftly engaged him shortly after arriving at the scene, effectively “saving a range of people’s lives.”
Footage depicted numerous ambulances and police vehicles surrounding the shopping center, with people seen leaving the area.Paramedics were observed providing medical treatment to patients at the scene.Witness Roi Huberman, a sound engineer at ABC TV in Australia, recounted that he sought refuge in a store during the incident.
“And suddenly we heard a shot or maybe two shots and we didn’t know what to do,” he said. “Then the very capable person in the store took us to the back where it can be locked. She then locked the store and then she then let us through the back and now we are out.”