Quick-thinking dad praised for sensitive act during Westfield stabbing

A father seen escorting his two kids away from the scene of a mass stabbing has been hailed for his quick thinking which made sure his children didn't witness the carnage. 

Police were called to Westfield shopping centre in Sydney's Bondi Junction after reports that a man with a knife was stabbing shoppers at 3.30pm on Saturday.  

Witnesses say the dark-haired, bearded man chased and slashed at shoppers as he went on a wild rampage killing six and injuring seven before he was shot dead by police. 

Camera crews at the scene showed the father and his two young children wearing eye masks.

The small detail was noticed by a woman on X who called the move 'bloody amazing'. 

'That man covered their eyes so they wouldn’t see the horrors of what has just happened,' she wrote. 

The man held both children close to him as he walked calmly away from the shopping centre.

Many shoppers have been left traumatised after seeing victims lying in pools of blood.

Among the dead is Sydney mother Ash Good, 38, who threw her injured infant o a bystander in a bid to save her life.

The baby is undergoing surgery and it is believed that the the two were the first to be targeted by the alleged attacker. 

NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Anthony Cooke said that the alleged attacker was confronted by a lone female officer on the fifth level of the complex.

'She confronted the offender who had moved by this stage to level five. As she continued to walk quickly behind him to catch up with him,' Commissioner Cooke said.

'He turned, faced her, raised a knife. She discharged a firearm and that person is now deceased.'

Police – including the Tactical Operations Unit – and ambulances attended the scene, with people seen screaming and crying out the front of the shopping centre.

The alleged attacker was wearing a green and gold ARL Australia Jersey while casually holding a knife at his side when witnesses claim he started chasing them.

Pictures and videos from the incident have been uploaded on X including one photo showing the alleged attacker casually riding an escalator while holding a large knife. 

One photo showed one of the victims of the attack lying in a pool of blood behind a glass door. 

A NSW Ambulance spokesperson said that 40 resources were sent to assist at the scene.

'NSW ambulance assisted in transporting eight patients to various hospital facilities across Sydney, and assessed a total of six patients who had been deemed injured on the scene,' they said.

A young witness who was locked inside a store said she heard gunshots and 'blood-curdling' screams while the attack was underway.

'We are absolutely terrified,' she said.