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.
“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.”
