Unfortunately, the number of victims from Saturday's attack in a shopping centre in Sydney, Australia is increasing. The police have announced that another person died in hospital.
There were probably even more injured if it weren't for the courage of a certain policewoman who shot the attacker.
Cameras recorded that a man wearing sports clothes with a beard arrived at the shopping centre around 3:10 pm. He left the car in the parking lot and entered the gallery. After a dozen or so minutes he returned to the car, then probably took a knife and went to kill.
Immediately afterwards, he appeared in the corridors and started attacking random people. He stabbed blindly, not even sparing a nine-month-old child, who was also injured.
Customers, who numbered several hundred in the gallery at that time, began to run away in panic. Some people hid in shops, which immediately lowered the anti-burglary blinds. Everyone sat in silence, afraid to breathe. No one knew how many attackers there were, how armed they were, whether they would break in and start shooting at terrified people. Some couldn't stand it and started crying.
The policewoman who shot the attacker is a hero
The braver customers tried to stop the madman with a knife. As can be seen in many videos recorded from inside, the knifeman avoided tall, broad-shouldered men. He tended to attack those weaker than himself. He moved around the building, running like crazy.
One of the witnesses recorded a young man dressed in white trying to stop the madman by scaring him away with a clothes hanger. Immediately afterwards, police officers appeared in the gallery.
The first on the spot were ordinary officers who were patrolling the area. A policewoman among them was the first to locate the attacker. She started chasing him, calling for him to surrender. When the knifeman saw her, he decided to attack her. Then the uniformed woman pulled out a gun and shot him.
"If it weren't for the courage of the police officer... She's definitely a heroine. There is no doubt that through her actions she saved the lives of others," said Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, in a special speech, who also expressed condolences to the families of the murdered.
Initially, the police reported five dead and seven wounded, most of whom were said to be in critical condition. Four women and one man died at the scene. Unfortunately, it recently turned out that another woman died in hospital. A nine-month-old baby underwent serious surgery.
It is already known that the knifeman was 40 years old, but the police have not yet revealed his full identity. The attacker's motives are also unknown yet.
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This article was originally published on Fakt.