Nine people were stabbed by an attacker at the Westfield Shopping Centre on Saturday afternoon.
ADVERTISEMENTSix people have been killed at a busy Sydney shopping centre in a stabbing attack.
Nine people were stabbed, including a small child, on Saturday afternoon at the Westfield Shopping Centre in Bondi Junction, which is in the city's eastern suburbs.
Seven of the victims remain in a serious condition in hospitals across Sydney.
Nine News reported the sixth fatality was the mother of the young child.
Armed police shot the suspect, according to local media reports.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the attack was a scene of violence, but also heorism by the public.
“It was also witness to the humanity and the heroism of our fellow Australians, our brave police, our first responders, and of course, everyday people who could never have imagined that they would face such a moment,” he said, paying tribute to people at the shopping centre who helped others.
He urged people not to speculate about the attacker’s motives.
“We should allow the investigators to go about their work," Albanese told reporters. “We will of course continue to update the Australian public, as more information is known.”
Video has emerged of a man wearing shorts and a sports jersey jogging inside the shopping centre, carrying a knife.
A witness who had been near a gym at the shopping centre saw the man, and told Nine he looked “scattered and chaotic”.
Assistant Police Commissioner Anthony Cooke told reporters officials did not know who the offender was yet.
“This is quite raw,” he said.
Cooke said at a press conference the attacker "acted alone" and police say there is no "no continuing threat" to the public.
He said authorities are still investigating a suspected motivation.
Video showed many ambulances and police cars around the shopping centre, and people streaming out. ABC reported armed police were searching a rooftop parking lot.
Paramedics were treating patients at the scene.
Witness Roi Huberman, an ABC sound engineer, told reporters he sheltered in a store during the incident.
ADVERTISEMENT“Suddenly we heard a shot or maybe two shots and we didn’t know what to do,” he said. “Then the very capable person in the store took us to the back where it can be locked. She then locked the store and then she then let us through the back and now we are out.”