Sydney knife attacker shot dead by police after killing five at shopping centre

A knife attacker who killed five people and injured several others in a Sydney shopping centre has been shot dead by police.

Horrified shoppers looked on as the lone knifeman went on a stabbing spree on Saturday afternoon in the Westfield Bondi Junction centre.

A New South Wales Police officer confronted the attacker and shot him dead as he faced her and raised a knife.

Anthony Cooke, assistant commissioner of New South Wales Police, said: “A man walked into Westfield at Bondi Junction, he left the centre very shortly after and returned… as he moved through the centre he engaged with about nine people.

“It is clear that during that engagement he caused harm to those people, we believe by stabbing them with a weapon he was carrying.

A crowd gathers outside Westfield Shopping Centre in Sydney, Saturday, April 13. Picture: AP Photo/Rick Rycroft

A crowd gathers outside Westfield Shopping Centre in Sydney, Saturday, April 13. Picture: AP Photo/Rick Rycroft

“Very clearly a range of reports were made on the incident, police attended promptly – a single unit officer, inspector of police, was nearby, attended, (and) went into the centre directed by a range of people.

“She confronted the offender who had moved, by this stage, to level five.

“As she continued to walk quickly behind to catch up with him he turned to face her, raised a knife, she discharged a firearm and that person is now deceased.”

In this image made from video provided by AUBC, first responders gather near the scene of a stabbing at a shopping center in Sydney. Picture: AUBC via AP

In this image made from video provided by AUBC, first responders gather near the scene of a stabbing at a shopping center in Sydney. Picture: AUBC via AP

Jason, a shopper evacuated from the centre, told 9 News he saw the alleged attacker with a “nice big blade”.

“Everyone started running toward the end of the building,” he said.

Jason said he later witnessed police shoot the alleged attacker.

“She shot him,” he said of the incident. “When the copper shot him she was giving him CPR.”

Maxine Cooley, from nearby Woollahra, said she heard “what sounded like a loud cap gun”.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has issued a statement on X that he’s been briefed by the Australian Federal Police following the reports of stabbings at Bondi Junction in Sydney.

He said: “Our hearts go out to those injured and we offer our thanks to those caring for them as well as our brave police and first responders.”

– Additional reporting by the Guardian

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