At Least 5 Killed in Stabbing at Mall in Australia

The assailant stabbed about nine people as he moved through the mall Saturday afternoon, Assistant Commissioner Cooke said. Emergency responders said eight people were transported to area hospitals. Some of the injured are in critical condition, including a small child, he said.

The attacker acted alone, and there is no continuing threat, he said.

“There’s nothing we’re aware at the scene that would indicate any motive or ideology,” Assistant Commissioner Cooke said in the briefing, noting the investigation was in its early stages. He added: “We’re not ruling anything out.”

Authorities received reports of multiple people stabbed shortly before 4 p.m. Numerous photos and videos on social media showed groups of people trying to help bloodied victims and others fleeing the mall, Westfield Bondi Junction, as alarms rang out, or sheltering in parts of the mall, some inside stores behind closed shutters.

Panicked shoppers told news crews that they had huddled fearfully in back rooms after the initial attacks, and later heard gunshots ring out.

Videos from inside the shopping center showed a man in dark shorts and a dark shirt chasing people with a long knife in his right hand. One video showed a man at the top of an escalator trying to keep the attacker from continuing his rampage, while others showed bloody victims on the polished tile floors — in some cases with shoppers and police officers tending to people’s wounds.

Bondi Junction is a busy commercial district in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs, a wealthy area near the coast, and the mall is a popular destination for families and teenagers. At the time of a major renovation in 2005, the Westfield Bondi Junction was described as one of the largest shopping centers in the Southern Hemisphere.

Yan Zhuang and Isabella Kwai contributed reporting.

This is a developing story.