By Cullen McCue – Trending Political News
Police have confirmed that the suspect in the deadly terrorist attack that has left at least six dead inside a Sydney mall was “known to law enforcement” prior to the attack.
At least six people were killed and several others injured when a knife-wielding man went on a stabbing spree in a Sydney shopping mall on Saturday. Disturbing videos from the scene show multiple victims bleeding from knife wounds while the attacker — a bearded, brown-skinned man — can be seen chasing shoppers. One brave shopper attempted to hold the attacker off with a large object as he attempted to make his way up an escalator.
The suspect was ultimately shot and killed by responding police officers at the scene.
Anthony Cooke, assistant commissioner for the New South Wales Police, said a suspect—identified as a 40-year-old man—“caused harm” to at least nine people around 3:20 p.m. local time Saturday at a shopping mall in Bondi Junction. Police have not referred to the killings as an act of terrorism, instead referring to it as a “major incident.”
New South Wales Police Commissioner Karen Webb told reporters that four women and one man were pronounced dead at the scene, while nine additional people were rushed to area hospitals. One of those victims was a woman who later died, while her nine-month-old baby is currently undergoing major surgery after suffering stab wounds.
The suspect was “known to law enforcement,” Webb told reporters in a press conference on Saturday. She added that police “don’t have fears” that the attack was a “terrorism incident.”
An investigation into the attack will be “ongoing for many, many days,” Webb said.