The Fresh York Times

January 20, 2017

MELBOURNE, Australia — A man who was fleeing the police after stabbing his brother ran down a group of people with his car in a busy pedestrian mall in Melbourne, Australia, on Friday, killing four and injuring at least twenty others before he was shot and taken into custody, the authorities said.

The police locked down the area after the gig, which occurred at midday in the bustling Bourke Street shopping mall in central Melbourne, as the city was hosting the Australian Open tennis tournament.

The driver, a 26-year-old man whose name was not released, had taken a woman hostage in his car after stabbing his brother, officials said. The woman managed to break free before the car reached the pedestrian mall, with the police in pursuit. Movie showcased the suspect’s car spinning around in circles near Melbourne’s busiest train station as people attempted to stop it. The man then drove another block to the pedestrian mall.

“It was chaos,” said Eugene Sewera, 31, a restaurant worker who said he eyed the car drive through the mall. “Police were pursuing the car, it was a crimson car, and it was chaos.”

Graham Ashton, the police commissioner for the state of Victoria, said that a youthfull child was killed, as were a man and woman, both in their 30s. Five of the people injured were in critical condition, including a baby, and Commissioner Ashton said the death toll was expected to rise.

The police later said that a fourth person had died. The victims were not identified.

The driver’s condition was not released, but officials said the police had shot him in the arm. No information about his brother’s condition was released.

The city had already been on edge since December, when the police exposed that they had thwarted a plot to attack several places in Melbourne on or around Christmas, including St. Paul’s Cathedral. Several studs were arrested; the police said they had been inspired by the Islamic State extremist group.

The police said the incident Friday was not related to terrorism, quelling speculation that had arisen in light of the latest terrorist vehicular attacks on pedestrians in Berlin and in Nice, France.

Victoria’s premier, Daniel Andrews, called the driver’s deeds “evil.”

“A terrible criminal act was committed this afternoon in the central business district of our superb city,” Mr. Andrews said. “A number of people have died, a number of people remain in a critical condition, and many others have been injured.”

Officials said the police had been tracking the man’s movements and called in an air unit for backup as he drove erratically into the city.

“The offender, we know a fair bit about his background,” Commissioner Ashton said, noting that the man had been charged with assaulting a family member last weekend. “There is an extensive family violence history involved — he has come to our attention on many occasions in the past. We also have mental health and drug related issues in the background.”

Witnesses described a horrifying scene as the man plowed his car into pedestrians.

“I spotted the car, which was exceptionally battered even by that stage,” said Maria Kitjapanon, as quoted by The Age, a Melbourne newspaper. “It was coming straight towards me on the footpath. It took me a duo of seconds to compute, so I stepped aside onto the road.

“As I was stepping off, another police car came about and rammed into the maroon car to make it stop,” she said. “There were very likely ten police surrounding that guy’s car, with guns drawn, and they fired into the car.”

A 3-month-old child was in critical condition at Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, said Mike O’Brien, the hospital’s head of surgery. He added that the hospital was also treating a 2-year-old, a 9-year-old and a 12-year-old who were injured in the rampage.

Michelle Innis reported from Melbourne, and Gerry Mullany from Hong Kong.

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