Five people were killed and several others injured in a stabbing rampage Saturday afternoon at a crowded major mall in Sydney, Australia, prompting the police to declare a critical incident and evacuate the area.
The attacker was shot and killed by a lone police officer who was directed into the mall by people fleeing the scene, police said. The officer was following the man with the knife, trying to catch up to him when he turned to face her and raised the weapon, according to the police. The officer then opened fire, saving lives, Anthony Cooke, police assistant commissioner for the New South Wales Police, said at a news briefing.
The assailant stabbed about nine people as he moved through the mall Saturday afternoon, Assistant Commissioner Cooke said. Emergency responders said eight people were transported to area hospitals. Some of the injured are in critical condition, including a small child, he said.
The attacker acted alone, and there is no continuing threat, he said.
“There’s nothing we’re aware at the scene that would indicate any motive or ideology,” Assistant Commissioner Cooke said in the briefing, noting the investigation was in its early stages. He added: “We’re not ruling anything out.”
Authorities received reports of multiple people stabbed shortly before 4 p.m. Numerous photos and videos on social media showed groups of people trying to help bloodied victims and others fleeing the mall, Westfield Bondi Junction, as alarms rang out, or sheltering in parts of the mall, some inside stores behind closed shutters.
Panicked shoppers told news crews that they had huddled fearfully in back rooms after the initial attacks, and later heard gunshots ring out.
Videos from inside the shopping center showed a man in dark shorts and a dark shirt chasing people with a long knife in his right hand. One video showed a man at the top of an escalator trying to keep the attacker from continuing his rampage, while others showed bloody victims on the polished tile floors — in some cases with shoppers and police officers tending to people’s wounds.
Bondi Junction is a busy commercial district in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs, a wealthy area near the coast, and the mall is a popular destination for families and teenagers. At the time of a major renovation in 2005, the Westfield Bondi Junction was described as one of the largest shopping centers in the Southern Hemisphere.
Yan Zhuang and Isabella Kwai contributed reporting.
This is a developing story.