A knife-wielding assailant killed six people and injured several others at a mall in a Sydney suburb on Saturday and was fatally shot by a police officer, Australian authorities said. The attacker, who police said they believed was a 40-year-old man, stabbed at least nine people in Westfield Bondi Junction shopping center before a senior police officer who was in the vicinity shot him dead, Assistant Commissioner Anthony Cooke of the New South Wales Police said at a news conference Saturday evening. Five people died at the mall and several of the victims are in either serious or critical condition, he added. A sixth person died at the hospital, police said. Among the injured was a 9-month-old infant who required surgery. The baby’s mother was the person who died in the hospital, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. Cooke said the attacker briefly walked into the mall on Saturday afternoon before leaving. He returned soon after with a knife. The alleged attacker was known to law enforcement, police said, without identifying him. Preliminary investigations indicated that he acted alone and that the incident was not an act of terrorism, though the motive was still unclear, said Police Commissioner Karen Webb.

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