Sydney mall attack: Everything we know so far
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Six people were stabbed to death and several others were injured in a shocking knife attack at a Sydney shopping mall.
Emergency services rushed to the scene at 3:30pm local time on Saturday as shocking videos showed a man wearing shorts and a green and yellow shirt carrying a blade.
One of his victims is a nine-month-old baby, who is undergoing surgery in hospital.
The attacker was also shot dead by a police officer, who confronted the attacker and shot him as he faced her and raised a knife.
Police do not believe the act was terror-related, but that the man is known to law enforcement.
As more information on the terrifying attack continues to come to light, here’s everything we know so far:
Where and when did the attack happen?
Horrified shoppers looked on as the lone knifeman went on a stabbing spree on Saturday at around 4pm local time in the Westfield Bondi Junction centre.
New South Wales Police revealed that a man walked into Westfield at Bondi Junction then left the centre very shortly after and returned.
An officer said that the attacker “engaged” with about nine people as he moved through the centre.
Footage and photos circulated on social media showing the inside of the shopping centre during the attack, including one dramatic clip showing a man on an escalator, brandishing a bollard at the attacker who is holding a large knife.
Other videos show people running through the shopping centre as an alarm rings and later footage shows police cars lining the road outside.
A woman who works in a nearby hair salon who took people fleeing the scene in said some had witnessed attacks in a Tommy Hilfiger store.
Speaking to ABC News Australia from the salon, she said: “We’ve had the older women coming into the salon who were in Westfield, traumatised, we had to sit them down because they were running and they weren’t fit enough to run. Other people (had) seen things that had happened in Tommy Hilfiger, where they were seeing stabs, it was absolutely horrific.”
She said the husband of one of her long-term clients was trapped in another shop’s changing room with a victim.
She said he had come to collect his wife who had finished her shift when “he got trapped inside the women’s changing room with one lady who was stabbed and another two ladies for two and a half hours.”
Who are the victims?
Seven people, including the lone knife attacker, have now been confirmed dead by New South Wales Police.
Four women and one man were killed in the shopping centre, and another woman died in hospital.
Another eight people remain in hospitals around Sydney, including a nine-month-old baby, who has been in surgery.
A witness who helped the baby who was stabbed told 9News Sydney: “The baby got stabbed. The mum got stabbed and came over with a baby and threw it at me – I was holding the baby, it looked pretty bad.
He added: “There was a lot of blood on the floor. I hope the baby is all right.”
His brother, who also witnessed the attack, said: “With my brother holding the baby so well and really compressing – I think the baby’s fine. The mother unfortunately started to have a lot of blood come out of her mouth.”
It is unclear who the other victims are at present.
Who is the attacker?
The attacker has not been identified but police believe he “acted alone”.
They do not believe the act was terror-related, but said that the man is known to law enforcement.
ABC News Australia spoke to a witness, who did not want to be identified, and reported that the person “saw a bloke in a green shirt start stabbing people indiscriminately”.
Other witnesses reported hearing gunshots as they hid inside stores, with one saying of the attacker: “He had a nice big blade on him. He looked like he was on a killing spree.”
He was shot dead by an officer who confronted the offender in the shopping centre.
Nnew South Wales Police assistant commissioner Tony Cook said: “As she continued to walk quickly behind to catch up with him he turned to face her, raised a knife, she discharged a firearm and that person is now deceased.”
Another witness told the broadcaster about the moment the attacker was shot: “He just started floating towards us and all I heard was ‘put it down’ and then she shot him.
“But we were in no doubt, if she didn’t shoot him, he would have kept going. He was on the rampage.”
