Witnesses to Saturday’s stabbings at a shopping center in Sydney, Australia, described a scene of terror as shoppers fled the knife-wielding man or huddled in stores as panic spread through the center commercial.
Video taken inside the mall showed a man dressed in dark shorts and a dark shirt running toward people with a knife. Some of those running from him appeared to be adults holding the hands of young children. a man confronted the attacker on an escalator to try to stop it.
Andrew Reid, a lifeguard, said Sky News Australia that he was running an errand at Myer, a retailer, when shoppers were ordered to evacuate. Many shops were closed, Mr Reid said, but after seeing people bleeding on the floor he went to administer first aid.
“There was so much blood,” he said, adding that he treated a woman with a back injury and that others who tried to help her used cotton T-shirts and other clothing to stem the bleeding. Another woman he treated was stabbed in the chest, he said. “She was pretty bad.”
A senior police officer nearby confronted the assailant, who then shot him, police said. A witness told Australian national broadcaster ABC that he heard screams and followed the police officer who was chasing the man, then saw her shoot him.
“If she hadn’t shot him, he would have continued.” the man saidadding that the officer then administered CPR to the attacker.
A women who was at the mall complex on Saturday told the national broadcaster that she was at the gym then hid in a store after hearing gunshots.
“I thought I was going to die,” she said through tears, adding. “I saw a woman lying on the floor in the Chanel.”
Other witnesses described seeing rescuers treating a baby with a stab wound. Many said they were in disbelief at the sudden attack on people who were simply going about their business on a weekend afternoon.
“It was heartbreaking,” Brendan Blomeley, who was in the mall with his 13-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son, told the national broadcaster. But he praised police for their response to the attack.
