Australian police say the perpetrator has been shot dead. The police searched the shopping center for several perpetrators, but have concluded that there was only one.
Deputy Chief of Police Anthony Cooke said at a press conference that they found nothing to suggest a motive or ideology at the scene.
Police Chief Karen Webb said they do not believe it is terrorism and the danger is over. She would not say more regarding the 40-year-old perpetrator than that they are still trying to find out what his motive was.
She said the policewoman who shot the perpetrator showed tremendous courage and saved many lives.
The death toll was raised following the attack to six following a man died in hospital. Five of those killed are women, and one is a man. Eight others were injured, including a nine-month-old child. following the stabbing at the shopping center on Saturday followingnoon local time.
Man with hunting knife
Hundreds of people were evacuated and many others hid in the shops when a man started running around stabbing people.
A woman tells TT that she saw a man in his 30s and 40s with a hunting knife, and that she and others locked themselves in a shop. The man is said to have stabbed people on several of the shopping centre’s floors.
Another witness says that he saw a policewoman shoot the perpetrator, who was armed with a large knife. She was alone when she came upon him, and shot him when he lunged at her with the knife.
– If she hadn’t shot him, he would have kept going. She went over and gave him CPR. He had a big knife and looked like he was on a killing spree, says a man who did not give his name.
Panic and chaos
Other witnesses say panic broke out and that they heard shots, but the shots may have been from the police. Store employees dragged people into the stores, locked the doors and later let them out through the back door.
According to The Guardian, a man told 9 News that people at the shopping center tried to help a woman and her infant, who had been stabbed.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese expresses sympathy for all the victims of the attack and called the policewoman who shot the perpetrator a hero.
– This was a cruel episode of violence, where innocent people on Saturday shopping were attacked, he said at a press conference.
Busy shopping mall
Police were alerted to the incident at the busy Westfield shopping center at Bondi Junction near famous Bondi Beach shortly before 4pm local time.
Images on social media show people pouring out of the mall, and police cars and ambulances arriving. The shopping center was closed down by the police, but many have since been let out.
Australia has some of the strictest gun laws in the world, and incidents like the one on Saturday are very rare.
#died #stabbing #shopping #center #Australia #perpetrator #killed
2024-04-14 11:57:35
