Six dead in Sydney knife attack

Six people died and several were injured in a stroke with a knife committed this Saturday in a shopping center in Sydney by a man who was killed by Australian police. The tragedy occurred at the Westfield Bondi Junction shopping centre, which was packed with customers at the time.

The police station of New South Wales, Karen Webb, detailed that five women and one man died in the attack. Among the injured is a nine-month-old baby. Eight people had to be hospitalized, according to emergency services.

According to the police, the attacker would be a 40-year-old man, known to the security services, although he has not yet been formally identified.

Webb lowered the track terrorist and signed that the attacker appears to have acted alone, confirming a similar statement by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

“If it really is the person we think it is, it is not an incident. terrorist“explained the commissioner.

Several witnesses described scenes of panic, with people running for cover and police trying to control the situation. Ayush Singh was working at a cafe when the incident happened.

“I saw a lot of people running, the guy with the knife, and people running away”, he detailed to AFP.

Singh helped two elderly ladies who were having coffee to hide inside the premises. He then heard three gunshots and then saw the man lying on the ground.

“I’ve been here six years, I never felt in danger, but now I’m scared“, he claimed.

Prime Minister Albanese praised the officer who responded to the scene and killed the suspect. “She is a heroine. There is no doubt that she saved lives“, said.

Images from security cameras, broadcast by local media, show a man running through the mall with a large knife in his hand, and several injured people lying on the ground.

“It was frightening”

Pranjul Bokaria had left work and was shopping when the accident occurred. stroke. She ran to a nearby store and took shelter in a break room.

“It was horrible, there were people crying”said the woman, who finally escaped from the place along with other customers and employees through an emergency exit that led to a back street. “I am alive and grateful”, he stressed.

Other witnesses testified that there was a movement of panic. Around four in the afternoon local time (06H00 GMT), Reece Colmenares was going to the gym when she saw “people running and screaming that someone had been stabbed”. She then took refuge in a tent along with a dozen people.

“They made us go down to a room and they closed the store. There were small children, elderly people and others in wheelchairs”, he detailed.

Other people who were in the area took refuge in a supermarket, where they remained for about an hour.

He king Charles IIIBritish sovereign and also head of state of Australiadeclared in a statement to be “horrified“for the attack with a knife”without sense”.

“My wife (Queen Camilla) and I were shocked and horrified to learn of the tragic knife attack” which occurred in Sydneysaid Charles III, and added that his “Thoughts are with the families and loved ones of those who were brutally murdered in this senseless attack”.

Pope Francis showed himself “deeply saddened“for the attack”without sense”.

“Pope Francis was deeply saddened to learn of the violent attack in Sydney and extends his spiritual solidarity to all those affected by this senseless tragedy.“, states the number 2 of the Vatican, Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, in a telegram addressed to the Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Colin Fisher.

These types of attacks are quite unusual in Australia.

In November 2018, an individual armed with a knife killed one person and injured two others on a Melbourne street, before being shot dead by police. The crime was claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group.