As Anthony Cooke, the deputy chief of police for the state of New South Wales, explained at a press conference on Saturday, there is only one suspected perpetrator. There is no further danger. Cooke initially did not provide any information about the identity of the alleged perpetrator or a possible motive. The police later said that they were currently not assuming any terrorist background.
Regarding the incident, the spokesman said that the alleged perpetrator attacked around nine people. A police officer was able to catch him. Then the firearm was used.
Emergency services were called to the busy Westfield Bondi Junction shopping center in eastern Sydney at around 3:40 p.m. (local time) on Saturday afternoon. Eyewitnesses reported that they had barricaded themselves in shops. Several posts on social media showed crowds of people outside the mall fearing for their loved ones.
The Australian news agency AAP reported that dozens of rescue workers had treated the injured. Several injured people were taken to hospital with stab wounds, including a nine-month-old baby. Most recently there was talk of seven people injured, some of them seriously.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese commented on the “devastating events” on Please refrain from speculation about the perpetrator’s motive and let the investigators work in peace. He spoke of a “terrible act of violence”. Innocent people who just wanted to do their shopping were stabbed indiscriminately.
Videos circulated online showing a man walking through the shopping center armed with a knife. Police called on the public to avoid the area. According to media reports, hundreds of people were evacuated from the shopping center.
An eyewitness told Reuters that she was hiding in a store with 20 other people when people started running out of the mall. She saw a baby with stab wounds being taken to an ambulance. “The mother was in a panic, she was sad. She held the baby and comforted him.” Two other eyewitnesses said they heard gunshots.
Another eyewitness described to ABC the moment when the police officer shot the attacker. “If she hadn’t done that, he would have continued. He ran amok.” The policewoman then provided emergency aid. “He had a nice big blade with him. He looked like someone on a killing spree.”
The identity of the perpetrator and his motive remain unclear. The police in the state of New South Wales, where Sydney is located, initially had no further information. She emphasized that her investigation would be “long and precise”. There were no indications of motives or ideologies at the crime scene. At the same time, the police thanked those who happened to be present on site for their help, as they rushed to help the people who had been stabbed. And the police emphasized that the “quick and decisive action of the officer who caught the alleged perpetrator” saved many lives. Australia generally has one of the strictest gun laws in the world.