Death toll from Sydney stabbings has risen to seven, including attacker

Latest:

The Sydney knifeman was a 40-year-old and his attack is not thought to be terror-related, New South Wales Police Commissioner Karen Webb said.

Ms Webb told a press conference: “Later this evening we became aware of who we believe the offender is and we believe that he is a 40-year-old man.

“However, we are waiting to formally identify him and we cannot speculate yet on his identification.

“But let me assure you that we are confident that there is no ongoing risk and we are dealing with one person who is now deceased.” 

She added: “If in fact it is the person that we believe it is, then we don’t have fears for that person holding an ideation – in other words, that it’s not a terrorism incident.

“He is known to law enforcement but we are waiting to identify him formally.”

Meanwhile, five women and a man were killed in the Sydney shopping centre stabbing, New South Wales Police has said.

In a press conference the force said four women and a man died in the shopping centre and another woman passed away in hospital.

The offender has also died.

A nine-month-old infant has undergone surgery and “about eight” people, including the child, are in hospitals around Sydney receiving treatment for “different injuries” as a result of the attack.

11:30am

The death toll from the Sydney stabbings has risen to seven, including the lone knife attacker, New South Wales Police said.

A knife attacker killed six people and injured several others in a stabbing spree at a Sydney shopping centre before being shot dead by police.

The lone knifeman attacked shoppers on Saturday afternoon at the Westfield shopping centre in the suburb of Bondi Junction in eastern Sydney.

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

New South Wales Ambulance service said it had taken eight patients to hospital.

Police have not identified the attacker but believe he acted alone and have not ruled out terrorism as a motive.

One of his victims is a small child, reported to be nine months old, who is being treated in hospital.

10:15am

Six people died at a Sydney shopping centre where a stabbing attack took place and eight patients were transported to hospital, New South Wales Ambulance said.

A spokesman for New South Wales Ambulance told a press conference: “Shortly after 3pm today, New South Wales Ambulance received multiple calls for persons stabbed within Westfield Bondi Junction.

“We’ve responded a total of 40 resources to the scene who remain on scene still. That included a total of four medical teams.

“New South Wales Ambulance assessed and transported eight patients to various hospital facilities across Sydney and assessed a total of six patients who have been deemed deceased on scene.”

Premier of New South Wales, Chris Minns, said he is is making “immediate arrangements” to return to Sydney following the shopping centre stabbings.

He said in a statement on X, formerly Twitter: “I am horrified to hear about the events at Bondi Junction this afternoon.

“I am making immediate arrangements to return to Sydney.

“I want to thank NSW Police, emergency services and first responders and the community for their bravery in the face of this shocking incident.”

NSW police said they do not know of “any motive or any ideology” at this stage.

Asked by reporters if he would rule out terrorism, Anthony Cooke, assistant commissioner of the force, said “we’re not ruling anything out”.

He said: “This all happened very, very quickly – the officer that was in the vicinity attended on her own, was guided to the location of the offender by people who were in the centre.

“She took the actions that she did saving a range of people’s lives; (she was) an inspector, a senior police officer – she was on her own. She engaged immediately on her arrival to the scene.

“I don’t have any indication of any motivation coming from the scene at all.” 

A small child has been taken to hospital and Mr Cooke said he did not know if any other children have been injured.

Mr Cooke said he had not seen anything like the incident at Sydney before and that “this is a very difficult circumstance”.

He said the investigation will be “lengthy and precise”.

He said: “We are working through the crime scene to retain control.

“First and foremost this is about dealing with this terrible situation making sure that people safe, and then working through and returning to normalcy.” He apologised for not being able to “give more information” at this stage and said he would be “briefing his executive shortly”.

Earlier:

Five people have died and a small child has been taken to hospital after a stabbing attack in a Sydney shopping centre, New South Wales Police said.

Anthony Cooke, assistant commissioner of New South Wales Police, told a press conference: “I’m advised that there are five victims who are now deceased as a result of the actions of this offender.

“There are more than several other people who have been conveyed to hospital – a number of those are in serious and or critical conditions at this stage and I do not have further information in relation to descriptions of those people.

“I know one of them is a small child.”

He added: “A man walked into Westfield at Bondi Junction, he left the centre very shortly after and returned at about 20 past three; 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.

“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.”

NSW police said it believes the offender in the Sydney attack “acted alone”.

Mr Cooke said: “I am content that there is no continuing threat; our police, as I said, have commenced investigations into the matter which will continue through the evening.

“I do not have details of victims who have been killed by this individual, nor those who have been conveyed to hospital for treatment – so I cannot provide you further information into relation to them, only to say very clearly our hearts go out to all of them, as they do (to) anyone touched by this incident this afternoon.

“I do not have information in relation to the offender – I do not know, at this stage, who he is, you would understand this is quite raw.

“Inquiries are very new and we continue to make attempts to identify the offender in this matter.

“That is it for the moment, in terms of information that I have for you.”

A shopper at the centre near Australia’s Bondi beach where several people were stabbed said the attacker was “on a killing spree”.

The shopper, who was not named, told ABC News: “He just started floating towards us and all I heard was ‘put it down’ and then she shot him.

“But we were in no doubt, if she didn’t shoot him, he would have kept going. He was on the rampage.

“Then she walked over and gave him CPR. He had a big blade on him – she chucked the knife away.

“He looked like he was on a killing spree.”

An eyewitness of the Sydney attack said he was near in a cafe with his two small children when he saw a man “stabbing people indiscriminately”.

ABC News Australia spoke to the witness, who did not want to be identified, and reported: “He saw a bloke in a green shirt start stabbing people indiscriminately, he handed off his kids to his wife who escaped before he started trying to help a woman who had been stabbed outside.

“He said he saw screaming, screaming and it didn’t seem that long before we heard the boom, boom, boom of the gunshot and we thought and hoped that it was the police. The security guard, he said, was dying 10 metres away.

“He grabbed towels there, and there were three people dying right around him (the eyewitness).

“It was just carnage, was how he described the situation as it unfolded, he was very much there after he sent his children and his wife to safety.

“The first responders didn’t realise they were coming in to see multiple critical people, and added the cops were just unreal.”