Australians have witnessed the “humanity and heroism” of their fellow citizens, the country’s prime minister has said.
Anthony Albanese said emergency services and “everyday people” could “never have imagined” they would face a lone knifeman in a shopping centre in Sydney.
Five of the six people killed were women.
A further eight victims – including a nine-month-old baby – were taken to hospital with stab wounds, police said.
A lifeguard, Andrew Reid, told Sky News he saw a woman “bleeding pretty badly” in scenes he described as “crazy”.
He added: “That poor woman. She’d lost a lot of blood. Me and a couple of other bystanders helped her, and there were police scrambling everywhere.
“I think they thought there was a second attacker – so that was pretty scary.”
Another woman was on the floor – also “in a bad way”. She had lost a lot of blood, too, Mr Reid said.
He helped police and did CPR with them. They “tried to get her back” but he’s “not sure she would have made it”.
Mr Reid went on to assist a third woman. There were “multiple victims” and it was “just a really hard day”, he said.
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Elsewhere, a mother attacked by the knifeman threw her injured baby to two men nearby.
Both mum and infant had been stabbed, and blood was coming from the mother’s mouth, one of the men told 9News Sydney.
“I was holding the baby. It looked pretty bad,” he said.
His brother added: “He helped with holding the baby and trying to compress the baby and same with the mother.
“We just kept yelling out to get some clothes, get some shirts and and just help us to compress and stop the baby from bleeding.”
The other brother added: “There was a lot of blood on the floor. I hope the baby is alright.”
The mother later died, while the infant was taken for treatment.
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In a piece of footage, which shows the attacker running around the shopping centre with the knife, a member of the public can be seen at the top of an escalator, holding a bollard, warning the knifeman, who is getting close, not to come any further.
The violent rampage, committed by a 40-year-old man known to police, might have been worse had he not been shot dead by a female police officer acting alone.
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As she pursued him he “turned to face her” and “raised a knife”, said New South Wales assistant police commissioner Anthony Cooke.
“She discharged a firearm and that person is now deceased,” he added.
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A man said he followed the police officer up some stairs and saw the attacker moving towards them.
The officer warned the man to “put it down” before shooting him, he told ABC News.
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“If she didn’t shoot him, he would have kept going,” he said. “He was on a rampage. Then she walked over and gave him CPR.”
The senior officer, an inspector, “showed enormous courage and bravery”, commissioner Karen Webb said.
