Witnesses have described the carnage that took place at a Sydney mall on Sunday afternoon when a man attacked several people, including a nine-month-old baby. The attacker, who stabbed six people to death, was later shot dead by police.

The child’s mother, who was stabbed, was holding the child as she was taken to an ambulance, eyewitness Reese Colmenaris told Reuters news agency.

Ms Kolminaris was one of 20 people who hid in a nearby hardware store when she saw people screaming and running out of the Westfield Bondi Junction mall complex.

“It’s scary, there’s little kids and old people and people in wheelchairs everywhere,” he said.

“Saw him running away with a knife.”

Pranjul Bokaria, was returning from work when the commotion broke out. As police cordoned off the area, chaos ensued as shoppers ran for their lives and hid inside nearby shops. She escaped using the emergency exit and took refuge in a back room.

“I am alive and grateful,” he told AFP news agency.

CCTV cameras inside the mall showed a man in an Australian rugby league jersey running around the shopping center with a large knife as injured people lay lifeless on the floor.

“I saw the whole thing in front of me. I saw the man running with the knife and people running.” A cafe worker inside the shopping center told news agency AFP.

Twenty minutes after people exited the mall, police teams entered the scene and began sweeping the area to find the attacker.

“He doesn’t stop”

Gunshots rang out in the air and a witness saw a police officer shoot the assailant.

“If she hadn’t shot him, he would have kept going, he was on a rampage. He had a nice, big blade. He looked like he was on a killing spree,” she said.

People running away alerted others about the stabbing. Shoppers huddled inside shops waiting for the nightmare to end. Night fell and the shopping complex was crowded with police and ambulances and stretchers ready to take the injured to hospitals.

The attacker was known to law enforcement.

NSW police did not identify the attacker but said he was a 40-year-old man known to law enforcement.

Eight people were admitted to hospital across Sydney, including a child. In total, the man killed five women and one man.

“Tragically, multiple fatalities have been reported and the first thoughts of all Australians are with those affected and their loved ones,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albany wrote on X.

Police have denied the attack was an act of terrorism, saying the man acted alone.

with agency input