An Australian policewoman has been hailed as a “hero” after stopping a lone knifeman in the middle of a murder spree at a Sydney shopping centre.
Six people, including a mother whose baby was reportedly in a critical condition, were killed after an unidentified man went on a knife attack at Westfield Bondi Junction.
In one of several heroic attempts to disarm the attacker, a lone female police officer calmly walked up behind him and ordered him to drop his weapon.
When he refused to do so and attacked her with a knife, she shot him.
“He is definitely a hero. There is no doubt that he saved lives by his action,” Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese said on Saturday.
New South Wales Police assistant commissioner Anthony Cooke said the officer “confronted the offender”.
“As she continued to walk quickly behind him to catch up with him, the man turned towards her, raised the knife, and the woman discharged her firearm and that person is now dead.”
He added: “This all happened very, very quickly; the local police officer intervened on his own and was directed to the location of the criminal by people at the centre.
“He carried out actions that would save the lives of many people; (he) was an inspector, a senior police officer; He was alone.
“He immediately stepped in as soon as we arrived on scene.”
An anonymous customer told ABC News of the moment she was shot: “He started flying towards us and all I heard was ‘put him down’ and then she shot him.
“But we had no doubt that if he hadn’t shot her he would have kept going. He was in anger. “He looked like he was on a killing spree.”
The customer added: “Then he came over and performed CPR on her. He had a large knife on her and she threw the knife.”
New South Wales police commissioner Karen Webb told reporters the unnamed officer was “extremely brave, as were the other officers involved”.
“It was a terrible situation, but it could have been a lot worse.”
Ms Webb added that the officer was “doing well, his family is doing well and he has everything he needs for now”.
Many people also intervened to stop the attacker and help those who were attacked.
In the images published on the internet, a man shopping on the escalator comes face to face with the attacker and the barrier.
The video shows the man nearly face to face with the killer and using the barrier to stop the attacker from climbing the escalator to the next floor of the mall.
The man was praised on social media as a “brave Australian”.
Others also helped those injured in the stabbing incident.
Bondi lifeguard Andy Reid immediately went into rescue mode when he saw a heavily bleeding mother with her nine-month-old baby.
“The baby was stabbed. The mother was stabbed and she came with a baby and threw it at me; I was holding the baby, it looked pretty bad,” she told Nine News.
“We were shopping and saw the man running towards the woman with the baby and then we were both ready to go and help.
“But I just told my brother we had to go in, I ran inside, told the men to lock the doors, and then the mother came with her bloody baby and stabbed him. “We took them to the store, got them to safety, and then called for help.”
Mr Reid said he had witnessed some “pretty awful things” in his 20 years as a lifeguard but had never seen anything “like” what happened at the shopping centre.
He called it an “incredible” and “cowardly attack”.
His brother said: “He also helped the mother as she tried to hold the baby and squeeze the baby.
“We kept yelling to get some clothes, some shirts and help us put compresses on the baby and stop the bleeding.”
The mother was later reported to have died from her injuries.
According to the information obtained, the baby who was stabbed in the abdomen was taken into surgery.
Ms Webb said: “The last information I received was that the baby was in surgery and it was too early to tell. But this is too bad.”
Police claimed that they did not determine the cause of the attack, but that it was not related to terrorism.
Five of the victims were women, police said.
The 40-year-old suspect is believed to be known to police.
“We are waiting to formally identify him and cannot yet speculate on his identity,” Ms Webb told reporters.
“I can assure you that we are confident there is no ongoing risk and we are now dealing with one deceased person.”
Australian Federal Police commissioner Reece Kershaw said they were providing digital forensic capabilities to assist with the evolving investigation.
“It is too early to determine why and it is useless to speculate,” he said.