By Richard Pollina | New York Post
A heroic police officer fatally shot a knife-wielding maniac who killed five people and stabbed several others — including a small child — inside a popular Sydney mall Saturday afternoon.
Authorities received calls around 3:30 p.m. local time that a knife-wielding man was attacking people at Westfield Bondi Junction, NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Anthony Cooke said during a press conference.
Footage obtained by 9News Sydney showed the suspect, wearing a gold and green rugby jersey and shorts, brandishing a long knife and approaching several horrified shoppers.
Hundreds of people were captured running for the mall’s exits during the stabbing spree.
At around 3:10 p.m., the suspect “moved through the center” in a crowd of about “nine people” inside the mall and launched his attack, causing “harm to those people we believe by stabbing them,” Cooke said.
A nearby officer was alerted of the attack by fleeing shoppers and confronted the suspect when he was on “level five” of the mall.
“He turned, faced her, raised a knife, and the officer opened fire, killing the suspect,” Cooke recalled.
Australia’s Prime Minster Anthony Albanese praised the bravery of the lone female police officer for entering the mall “by herself” and killing the suspect before he could cause any more harm to innocent civilians.
“She is certainly a hero. There is no doubt that she saved lives,” Albanese said.
A 38-year-old mother, whose 9-month-old baby was stabbed in the attack, died hours later at the hospital, according to the outlet.
The baby’s condition is still unknown.
Two witnesses told 9News Sydney how they helped save the defenseless baby after the suspect also stabbed the child’s mother.
“The mom got stabbed, and the mom came over with the baby and threw it at me, and I was holding the baby,” one of the men told the outlet.
The two men said they began “compressing the baby” and the mother to stop the bleeding.
“There’s a lot of blood on the floor… I hope the baby is alright,” they said.
Cooke shared there was no indication of motivation for the act but was not ruling out if it was terrorist-related.
“NSW ambulance assisted in transporting eight patients to various hospital facilities across Sydney, and assessed a total of six patients who had been deemed injured on the scene,” he said.
“Things are very, very raw at this time, and we’re in the early stages of the investigation.”
The suspect is believed to have acted alone, Cooke said, adding that there was no further threat to the area.
Several posts on social media showed crowds fleeing the mall and police cars and emergency services rushing to the area.
Albanese condemned the “horrific” attack on the innocent shoppers.
“The devastating scenes at Bondi Junction are beyond words or understanding. Australians will be shocked this evening,” Albanese said. “This was a horrific act of violence, indiscriminately targeted at innocent people going about an ordinary Saturday doing their shopping tonight.
“It’s such a shock this happens in a country such as ours, where people should be able to go about their shopping on a Saturday afternoon without any thought that there is risk involved.”
With Post wires
