A New South Wales police inspector has been hailed as a hero after she shot dead a man who stabbed six people to death in a shopping centre in Bondi Junction.
The senior officer, Amy Scott, was conducting routine duties nearby when she was directed to head to Westfield shopping centre following reports a man was using a “massive” knife to stab shoppers.
Within minutes, the officer was inside the centre and began chasing the offender.
“This all happened very, very quickly,” the deputy commissioner of police, Tony Cooke, said.
“The officer was in the near vicinity, attended on her own, was guided to the location of the offender by people who were in the centre and she took the actions that she did, saving a range of people’s lives.”
Cooke said the officer was walking “quickly” behind the man to catch up with him before he turned towards her with a knife witnesses have described as “massive”.
“He turned, faced her, raised a knife,” he said. “She discharged a firearm and that person is now deceased.”
The officer was alone and taking advice from “a range of people”.
“She engaged immediately on her arrival to the scene,” he said.
The officer remained at the scene for hours after the initial interaction before going to Waverley police station to debrief with other officers.
Anthony Albanese said her actions were heroic.
“She is certainly a hero,” the prime minister said. “There is no doubt that she saved lives through her action.
“It is a reminder that those people who wear uniform are people who rush to danger, not away from it.”
He thanked the officer, other police, first responders and the “everyday people” who reacted to help victims.
The NSW police commissioner, Karen Webb, also praised the inspector, calling her “enormously courageous”. Webb said that officer was “doing well, under the circumstances”.
“She showed enormous courage and bravery.”
At a press conference on Saturday evening, Webb said police believed the offender is a 40-year-old man, but he was yet to formally identified. She said he was known to law enforcement but police did not believe the attack was motivated by terrorism.
Of the six who were killed, five are women. Police said it was too early to say if the attacks were directed at women.
As is standard practice when a police officer is involved with a death, the events have been declared a critical incident and will be investigated, with oversight from the state’s Law Enforcement Conduct Commission.
