SYDNEY (AP) – A man stabbed six people to death at a busy Sydney shopping center on Saturday before being shot dead, police said. The attack left eight people injured, including a nine-month-old child.
NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Anthony Cooke said the 40-year-old suspect began stabbing people at Westfield Shopping Center in Bondi Junction, in the city's eastern suburbs, before turning around and raising a knife. The police inspector shot him dead. reporters.
Six of the victims (five women and one man) and the suspect were killed. Commissioner Karen Webb said eight injured people were being treated at hospitals. The baby was undergoing surgery, but it was too early to know the condition.
“We are confident that there is no ongoing risk and we are currently dealing with one person who has died,” Webb said at a later news conference. He added: “This is not a terrorist incident.”
She said police had not yet identified the man and were working to determine a motive.
Mr Cook said a “long and rigorous” investigation had just begun.
Mr Cooke said the inspector, a senior police officer, was alone when he confronted the suspect, but engaged him immediately after arriving at the scene and “saved the lives of various people”.
Mr Webb said the officers “showed tremendous courage and bravery”.
Video showed dozens of ambulances and police cars surrounding the shopping center and people streaming out.
Paramedics were treating the patient at the scene.
Roy Huberman, a sound engineer for Australia's ABC Television, told the station that he had taken shelter inside the store during the incident.
“Then all of a sudden I heard one or two gunshots and I didn't know what to do,” he said. “Then a very efficient person at the store took us to the back where she could lock up. She then locked the store and then let us through the back door. And now we… is out.”