In what may be the latest ISIS-inspired instance of vehicular terrorism, a man deliberately slammed into pedestrians near a shopping mall in Melbourne, Australia, killing four and injuring more than 20. While the police have said the incident was not terrorism-related, according to some eyewitness reports the driver was yelling “Allahu Akbar” as he was driving.
Victoria Police can confirm today’s Melbourne CBD incident is not a terrorist incident. To clarify, the term CT stands for Counter Terrorism
— Victoria Police (@VictoriaPolice) January 20, 2017
According to Reuters, Police eventually rammed the car and shot the 26-year-old driver in the arm, before dragging him from the vehicle and arresting him. He was wearing nothing but red underwear when he was detained at the Elizabeth Street end of the mall.
Police said the man had a history of family violence and was wanted over a stabbing earlier in the day.
Pursued by police cars, the man had been seen driving erratically before speeding into a pedestrian mall, ploughing into people, police said. A shop video showed several people diving into a convenience store as the car raced along the footpath.
The maroon vehicle was seen doing burnouts outside Flinders Street Station before driving into crowds of shoppers on busy Bourke Street at about 1.30pm.
Video from a witness showed a maroon colored car driving around in circles in an intersection outside Flinders St railway station in the city’s central business district, with the driver shouting at people and hanging his arm out the window. Two people approached the car, apparently trying to stop it before it drove off with police chasing.
The mangled wreckage of half a stroller remains stuck on the hood of the car, while what appears to be the other half is further up the mall at a pedestrian crossing on William Street. The baby who was inside it is believed to have died at the scene.
“We witnessed about half a dozen people that ricocheted off the car one way or another. I saw one person fly up almost roof level of the car as they got thrown up against one of the retail stores,” Sharn Baylis, 46, told Reuters by telephone. “You could hear the gasping and the screaming from people, then you just started hearing the screams and the crying as it sunk in,” she said. Baylis said she rushed across tram tracks and with other bystanders and gave cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) first aid to a badly hurt man who had been run over. “I think it was pretty much in vain at that point. The seriousness of his injuries, he was probably the worst I saw.”
One of the dead was a child. Four children, including a three-month-old baby, were taken to Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital, said a hospital spokesman. “We’re not regarding this as a terrorism-related incident,” Victoria state police commissioner Graham Ashton told reporters on Friday. Police had earlier chased the driver, who was wanted over a domestic assault and driving offences, Ashton said.
Witness Maria Kitjapanon told Melbourne’s Age newspaper that police eventually rammed the car “There were probably 10 police surrounding that guy’s car, with guns drawn, and they fired into the car. Then they dragged someone out via the passengers side, then all 10 of them sat on top of him,” she said.
In a press conference Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton said the 26-year-old offender had become known to police following multiple incidents.
‘He is not on our books as having any connection with terrorism and we’re not regarding this as a terrorism-related incident. What we do know of the person is there is an extensive family violence history involved,’ Chief Commissioner said.
‘He has come to our attention on many occasions in the past. We have mental health and drug-related issues in the background of this particular person. He has been coming to our attention more recently over recent days in relation to assaults, family violence-related assaults.’
The Commissioner said police had attempted to intercept a vehicle the offender was driving in the morning, but had to abandon the chase due to the erratic nature of the driving.
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Melbourne is hosting the Australian Open tennis grand slam and is packed with thousands of tourists, only a few blocks from where the incident occurred. Police said the tennis tournament continued as normal. Australia, a staunch U.S. ally, has been on heightened alert for attacks by home-grown radicals since 2014 and authorities have said they have thwarted a number of plots. There have been several “lone wolf” assaults, including a 2014 cafe siege in Sydney that left two hostages and the gunman dead.
Friday’s incident initially raised fears about the possibility of another attack. Last year, in attacks claimed by Islamic State, trucks were driven into crowded pedestrian precincts in separate incidents in Nice and Berlin, killing scores.
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