Multiple people were stabbed Saturday, and police shot someone, at a busy Sydney shopping centre, Australia, media reports said.
Six people have so far been declared dead from the incident.
Anthony Cooke, the assistant commissioner of New South Wales Police Force, said in a press conference: “A man walked into Westfield Bondi Junction, he left the centre very shortly after he returned at about 3:20pm.
“As he moved through the centre he engaged with about nine people.
“It’s clear that during that engagement he caused harm to those people stabbing them with a weapon he was carrying.
“Very clear a range of reports were made of the incident.
“Police attended and a single unit officer inspector of police was nearby and went into the centre directed by a range of people.
“She confronted the offender who had moved by this stage to level five, as she continued to walk quickly behind to catch up with him, he turned, faced her, raised his knife, so she discharged her firearm and that person is now deceased.
“I’m advised that there are five victims who are now deceased as a result of the actions of this offender.
“There are more than several other people who were taken to hospital.
“A number of those are in serious and critical conditions at this stage and I do not have information of descriptions of these people.
“I know one of them is a small child. As is the case in these incidents, a critical incident has been declared and investigations in relation to the matter have commenced and are continuing.”
He added: “This person has acted alone and I am content that are not active threats.”
He continued: “There is nothing that would indicate any motive or any ideology.
“We’re not ruling anything out.”
ABC TV in Australia reported Saturday that police evacuated shoppers at Westfield Shopping Centre in Bondi Junction, which is in the city’s eastern suburbs. A New South Wales ambulance spokesperson said that one of two alleged offenders had been shot by police and they were searching for the other, ABC reported. The spokesperson said people were still inside the shopping center.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported that four people died in a stabbing. Police couldn’t be immediately reached to confirm the report. The newspaper said one person was also shot, but it wasn’t clear if the person had died.
Video showed many ambulances and police cars around the shopping centre, and people streaming out. ABC reported that armed police were searching a rooftop parking lot.
Mr Cooke said he had not seen anything like the incident at Sydney before and that “this is a very difficult circumstance”.
He said the investigation will be “lengthy and precise”.
He said: “We are working through the crime scene to retain control.
“First and foremost this is about dealing with this terrible situation making sure that people safe, and then working through and returning to normalcy.”
He apologised for not being able to “give more information” at this stage and said he would be “briefing his executive shortly”.
Tyler Mitchell