Seven people were killed, and multiple others injured in a mass stabbing incident on Saturday at a shopping mall in Sydney, Australia.
Witnesses at the Westfield Bondi Junction mall described “pandemonium” on Saturday afternoon as a man in a green shirt appeared to indiscriminately stab shoppers, sending people running in search of safety. Shops locked their doors, and many of the shoppers struggled to find cover.
“It was just carnage,” one witness told ABC.
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Among the people injured in the incident, a mother and her nine-month-old baby were also stabbed. The mother was taken to a hospital where she died from her injuries, while the baby went into emergency surgery, 9 News reports.
When a senior police inspector arrived on the scene to confront the attacker, he raised his knife toward her, CNN reported, and the officer shot at him.
The officer “discharged her firearm, and that person is now deceased,” said New South Wales’s Assistant Commissioner Anthony Cooke.
Cooke said that the attacker walked into the mall at 3:20 p.m., and proceeded to stab people with a weapon that “was most likely a knife.”
New South Wales’s police commissioner Karen Webb said police have identified the suspect, and believe the suspect was a 40-year-old man, but did not release any further details about his identity because the investigation is still ongoing.
She said that four women and one man died at the scene, in addition to the attacker and the other woman who succumbed to her injuries at the hospital. Eight people are currently being treated for injuries in hospital, including the infant.
King Charles III released a statement, saying he and Queen Camilla were “utterly shocked and horrified” by the tragic incident.
“Our hearts go out to the families and loved ones of those who have been so brutally killed during such a senseless attack,” he said. “While details of these shocking circumstances are still emerging, our thoughts are also with those who were involved in the response, and we give thanks for the bravery of the first responders and emergency services.”
