Four people were injured when police opened fire on a man wielding a knife at a busy shopping centre in Sydney, Australia. The incident occurred at an organic food market outside Westfield Shopping Centre in Hornsby, north of Sydney, just before midday on Thursday.
Two officers fired at the 23-year-old man after he allegedly approached them with a large carving knife. The man was wounded several times, but three female bystanders aged between 60 and 82 were also hit by bullets or fragments. All four are in hospital in a stable condition.
New South Wales Police Assistant Commissioner Dennis Clifford confirmed the man was known to police, having been reported missing from a psychiatric centre the previous day. 'Police were making efforts to try and locate him,' he said. Clifford added that Tasers, batons and sprays were available to the officers, but in a life-and-death situation they had to make a critical decision.
Witnesses described the man as 'zombie-like' and 'babbling incoherently' before the shooting. An independent team will investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident.
