Police are yet to reveal the identity of a knifeman who stabbed six shoppers to death at Bondi Junction Westfield and injured eight others including a nine-month-old baby before being shot dead by a cop.
NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said on Saturday night that police were waiting to formally identify the man, but said they believed he was 40 years old and known to law enforcement.
Ms Webb said that although the the man’s motive was yet to be determined, early signs indicated the attack was not ideologically motivated or terror-related. She also said there was no further threat to the public, as he was believed to be acting alone.
“There’s no suggestions anyone was targeted but that could change,” she said.
The man was roamed through the busy shopping centre in Sydney’s east with a 30cm kitchen knife at about 3.30pm randomly stabbing shoppers, killing five women – including the injured baby’s mother – and one man.
At several points he was confronted by brave bystanders, one who blocked him on an escalator while wielding a bollard, and another who stopped him from pursuing a mother and her two children.
Desperate shoppers threw furniture at him from upper levels in an attempt to stop him, while horrified witnesses watched him stalk through the shopping centre.
He was eventually shot dead by a lone female police inspector who ran into the Westfield mall after being alerted by witnesses.
“She confronted the offender, who had moved by this stage to level five, as she continued to walk quickly behind him to catch up with him. He turned to face her, raised a knife,” NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Anthony Cooke said.
“She discharged a firearm and that person is now deceased.”
The baby is at Sydney Children’s Hospital after undergoing surgery, while the seven other injured victims are at four separate hospitals.
