A man is in custody after allegedly shooting up to a hundred bullets into a busy Sydney street, wounding 20 people, with police on Monday (Oct 6) ruling out links to terrorism or gang activity.
Police were called on Sunday evening to a street in the city’s Inner West, where the alleged gunman was firing at random at passing cars and police.
Office worker Joe Azar said he was working across the road when he heard what he thought were fireworks or rocks being thrown at the windows.
“Some guy’s windshield blew up, then the bus stop glass shattered,” Azar told The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper.
“The surreal feeling kicked in like, ‘Oh, this is what’s happening’,” he said.
“It was frantic. It all happened so quick, so I couldn’t comprehend what was going on,” he added.
New South Wales Police Acting Superintendent Stephen Parry said “anywhere between 50 and 100 shots” were fired.
A large contingent of police swarmed the area and locked down the street, before entering a unit above a business and arresting a 60-year-old man. They seized two rifles from the scene.
The accused shooter was taken to hospital and treated for wounds sustained during his arrest.
No charges have been laid against the alleged gunman yet.
One man self-presented to hospital with a gunshot wound following the incident and is in a “serious” condition, police said.
Another 19 people were treated for shrapnel or shattered glass injuries, with several taken to hospital.
“TERRIFYING”
New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon on Monday described the shooting as “serious and terrifying”.
The gunman’s motive was unclear but there were “no known links to terrorism activity or any gang activity”, he told local radio station 2GB.
One witness who gave his name as Tadgh told the national broadcaster ABC he had been watching the rugby when he first heard the gunshots.
“It was very loud and ‘bang, bang, bang’ and flash-bangs and sparks and smoke and the whole works. It was something out of a movie, really,” he said.
A police investigation is ongoing.
Mass shootings are relatively rare in Australia.
A ban on automatic and semi-automatic weapons has been in place since 1996, when a lone gunman killed 35 people in Port Arthur, Tasmania.
In August, alleged gunman Dezi Freeman went on the run in the bush after being accused of killing two police officers. He remains at large.
And in 2022, six people including two police officers were killed in a shooting near the small Queensland town of Wieambilla.
Source: CNA
- Agencies
