Major police operation under way after reports of ‘multiple stabbings’ at shopping centre in Sydney

A major police operation is under way after reports of multiple stabbings at a shopping centre near Bondi Beach in Sydney.

Hundreds of people have been evacuated from the Westfield Bondi Junction shopping centre.

A New South Wales ambulance spokesperson said that one of two alleged offenders had been shot by police and they were searching for the other, ABC reported.

They also reported that armed police were searching a rooftop parking lot.

The ambulance spokesperson said people were still inside the shopping centre.

A shopper said she thought she was “going to die”.

She told ABC News: “I was hiding in the backroom. I was hearing gunshots. It’s just the worst thing ever, who does that to people?

“I saw a woman lying on the floor in Chanel.

“I didn’t see him properly, I was running. It’s just insanity – I wasn’t expecting it.

“I thought I was going to die. Every moment was playing through my head, I was so scared.”

Waverley Council said on X: “A critical incident has commenced following the shooting of a male at Bondi Junction. Just before 4pm today, emergency services were called to Westfield Bondi Junction following reports of multiple people stabbed. People are urged to avoid the area.”

Witness Roi Huberman, an ABC sound engineer, told the network that he sheltered in a store during the incident.

“And 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.”

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