Massacre at Bondi Junction Westfield, a huge six-storey shopping center in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. In the early afternoon a man in his forties stabbed six people to death, five women and a man, and injured eight others, including a nine-month-old baby, hit in the stomach. Only the courage of a police officer, who first blocked him and then shot him to death, meant that the toll of the tragedy was not even heavier.
According to the investigators, it was not a terrorist attack: from the first testimonies, the attacker, already known to the police, acted alone, attacking his victims randomly, without any ideological motive. It all happened around 3.30pm local time inside the popular shopping center, which was very crowded at the time: the attacker, wearing a black and yellow t-shirt of an Australian rugby championship team and sports shorts, left the center and then returned shortly after. next with a large blade in his hands, moving with icy calm. “He walked as if he were eating ice cream in the park,” a witness told local TV. Then, suddenly, he started stabbing those around him, in an absolutely random way, causing general panic. According to some witnesses, among the bodies left on the ground, there were those of two security men. In terror, hundreds of people began screaming and running to seek shelter in shops or any safe corner. Some of them took boxes, those used for goods, to create barricades to protect themselves. In those very excited moments, as seen in some videos of the internal circuit circulating online, some courageous customers attempted to block the attacker. One of them confronted him with a bat as the man went up the escalator. Other videos show the attacker wandering apparently aimlessly, first walking, then running, while people keep him at a distance.
During those very long minutes of fear, shopkeepers also managed to limit the scope of the threat, quickly closing the doors of their premises and thus helping people to hide. Then a police officer on duty at the scene of the massacre followed him and shot him when the man tried to stab her too. In just a few minutes, the photo of her blocking the attacker went around the web and there are already those online who are calling for the Order of Australia, one of the highest national honours, to be awarded to her. “She is certainly a heroine: there is no doubt that her courage saved many human lives”, commented the Australian Prime Minister. Anthony Albanese.
Video Attack in a shopping center in Sydney, people stabbed: several dead
It should be remembered that Australia adopted very strict laws on gun ownership after a man killed 35 people and injured 23 others in 1996, in Tasmania. Today the country is as shocked as it was then, and is following with apprehension the health conditions of the eight injured, especially those of the youngest among them, a nine-month-old baby. His mother is one of the victims and he is still in critical condition after an abdominal operation. Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani announced that “there are no Italians among the victims”. However, the Farnesina is monitoring the situation, while the whole world has expressed condolences, especially in the United Kingdom, with members of the royal family issuing a note. “My wife and I – wrote King Charles, head of state of the Commonwealth country – were completely shocked and horrified to hear of the tragic stabbing incident in Bondi. Our hearts go out to the families and loved ones of those who were brutally killed during such a senseless attack.”
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