SYDNEY. An assault unfolded in Sydney’s suburb of Bondi on Saturday as an assailant wielding a knife struck down five individuals in a shopping mall before being gunned down by police, leaving chaos and tragedy in its wake.
The perpetrator, who engaged with nine people in the bustling Westfield Bondi Junction shopping centre, was swiftly confronted by law enforcement. “She discharged a firearm and that person is now deceased. I am advised that there are five victims who are now deceased as a result of the actions of this offender,” revealed New South Wales Police Assistant Commissioner Anthony Cooke in a press conference.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned the brutal attack, emphasizing its senseless nature. “This was a horrific act of violence, indiscriminately targeting innocent people going about an ordinary Saturday doing their shopping,” he expressed, extending sympathy to the victims and their families.
Despite Australia’s stringent gun and knife laws, incidents of this magnitude remain rare. Emergency services rushed to the scene shortly before 4 p.m. (0600 GMT) following reports of stabbings, with eight individuals, including a child, transported to hospitals, according to a spokesperson for New South Wales Ambulance.
Eyewitness accounts paint a harrowing picture of the ordeal. Reese Colmenares, who sought refuge in a hardware store with 20 others, recounted seeing a wounded baby being attended to. “The mother was terrified, the mother was sad, just holding (and) comforting the baby,” she shared with Reuters.
Reports of shots fired added to the pandemonium. “Even 20 minutes after people were rushed out of the mall, I saw SWAT teams of people sweeping the surrounding streets,” one witness disclosed, while another sought shelter in a nearby jewelry store, witnessing a woman lying on the ground.
An anonymous eyewitness described the tense moment when the police intervened. “If she did not shoot him, he would have kept going, he was on the rampage,” the individual recounted to state broadcaster ABC. “She went over and was giving him CPR. He had a nice big blade on him. He looked like he was on a killing spree.”
Images flooding social media depicted throngs of people fleeing the mall, with police vehicles and emergency services descending upon the area in response to the crisis.
Gary P Hernal started college at UP Diliman and received his BA in Economics from San Sebastian College, Manila, and Masters in Information Systems Management from Keller Graduate School of Management of DeVry University in Oak Brook, IL. He has 25 years of copy editing and management experience at Thomson West, a subsidiary of Thomson Reuters.
