Sydney shopping centre stabbing attack: What we know so far

Police officers stand guard outside Westfield Shopping Centre where multiple people were stabbed in Sydney, Australia Credit: AP

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

Four women and a man died in the shopping centre and another woman later died in hospital, police said.

Here’s what we know so far.

- Police said Joel Cauchi, 40, entered the Westfield shopping centre at Bondi Junction at around 3.10pm local time (6.10am UK time) and then left “very shortly after” before returning at about 3.20pm.

- The man stabbed shoppers as he moved through the shopping centre – including a mother and her nine-month-old baby.

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The scene at the Bondi Beach Westfield shopping centre. Credit: AP

- Video footage appears to show a shopper confronting the attacker on an escalator in the centre by holding a bollard towards him.

- Emergency services were called to Westfield Bondi Junction at around 3.30pm, following reports that multiple people had been stabbed.

- A female police officer who was nearby went into the centre alone and approached the attacker who had by this point moved to level five of the shopping centre.

- The officer shot the attacker after he turned to face her, raised a knife and lunged at her.

- The officer conducted CPR on the attacker until the arrival of paramedics, who worked on the man; however, he could not be revived.

- New South Wales Ambulance sent 40 resources to the scene including four medical teams.

Eyewitnesses described shocking scenes Credit: AP

- At a press conference, New South Wales Police Commissioner Karen Webb said the knifeman was a 40-year-old man known to law enforcement and his attack was not thought to be terror-related.

- Four women and a man died in the shopping centre and another woman later died in hospital, police confirmed.

- A nine-month-old baby has undergone surgery and eight people, including the child, are in hospitals around Sydney receiving treatment for different injuries.

- The mother has been widely named by Australian media as Ash Good, 38. Eyewitnesses said Ms Good attempted to save her baby after she was stabbed by passing the infant over to receive treatment.

-New South Wales Police said they had identified the attacker as Joel Cauchi, of Queensland, and do not think he was motivated by terrorism.

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