Four people, including a young child, have died and several others have been injured after a car mounted the footpath and hit pedestrians on a busy street in the Melbourne CBD on Friday afternoon.
Police apprehend someone in Melbourne CBD Bourke St after reports of a driver mowing people down.. #Melbourne… https://t.co/rlXrEV3T89
A man deliberately drove into pedestrians in Bourke Street mall, Victoria police said. The incident was not a terror attack.
In a press conference late on Friday afternoon Victoria police chief commissioner Graham Ashton said the perpetrator was a 26-year-old man with an "extensive history of family violence".
Earlier, police said the incident was connected to a stabbing in Melbourne’s south east in the early hours of Friday morning "involving parties known to one another".
Police were called to a Windsor address just after 2am after reports of two men fighting. Both men had left the scene by the time police arrived, but one of the men presented to a nearby hospital with stab wounds and was in a critical condition on Friday morning.
"Following this incident, it is alleged the same man took a woman... hostage in his car. She managed to escape from the car on the Bolte Bridge earlier today," Victoria police said in a statement.
Video footage shows a red car doing burnouts in the busy intersection outside Flinders Street station on Friday afternoon. The man in the car hangs out the window gesturing to pedestrians and then appears to drive down Swanston Street, which is closed to traffic.
Witnesses say the car then mounted the footpath and proceeded to hit dozens of pedestrians. Others reported hearing gunshots at the scene as the man was detained by police.
A car mounted the sidewalk at pace and sent at least half a dozen pedestrians flying in the air. I was on the other… https://t.co/dxL6Q3l8zK
A woman named Rebecca Russo told Fairfax Media, "people were running out of the way, they were going very, very fast. I saw him hit a few people. I saw bodies flying into the air."
A man told the Herald Sun that he saw a red Commodore drive along the Bourke Street footpath, pursued by police.
"He wasn't stopping and people walking were trying to get away and he just kept going and collected people on his way," the man said.
Police said officers shot the driver in the arm and he was taken into custody with "non-life threatening injuries".
Car rams into pedestrians in #Melbourne #cbd
Ambulance Victoria said 24 people were assessed by paramedics.
The Royal Children's Hospital released a statement saying it was treating four children and that its emergency department was "very busy".
Four patients have been admitted to the hospital following an incident on Bourke Street in Melbourne CBD. 1/2
"If you were planning to bring your child here with a less urgent condition, but can see your GP or local hospital, we would appreciate if you could do so," the statement said.
A spokesperson for the hospital said the patients included a three-month-old baby who was operated on in the emergency theatre.
A two-year-old was in intensive care and a nine-year-old treated for limb injuries. A 12-year-old and 23-year-old were also under observation.
“The staff are doing what they do, we are getting on with it,” the spokesperson said.
Five patients were taken to the Alfred Hospital, where three are in a critical but stable condition and two are in a serious condition.
Six others were admitted to St Vincent’s Hospital: three women in their 30s, two men in their 40s, and a 31-year-old man. All are in a stable condition with severe injuries.
People in surrounding office buildings saw the driver of the car being detained by police officers near a crumpled red car.
Suspect now cuffed. @hughriminton
Aerial shots from Sky News showed a baby's pram on top of the car's bonnet.
Every parent's worst nightmare: pusher on bonnet of out-of-control car in Melbourne CBD https://t.co/zXr0OyFs6t
Former Victorian police commissioner Christine Nixon was at the scene and reportedly helped the mother who owned the pram.
Christine Nixon said she helped mother who owned pram hit by car, "She kept asking me 'where's the baby?' and I don't know" @abcmelbourne
pram tipped over next to ambulance
Sharn Baylis, who was on the scene near Bourke Street mall, told BuzzFeed News she saw "about seven people clearly injured" and helped with the most critical person at the time.
My thoughts are w/ family & friends of the young man who has died. We did all we could b4 paramedics #heartbroken #bourkestmall #Melbourne
"I saw a lot of people with blood on them, standing around, crying," she said. Baylis later tweeted that the young man she helped had died.
Witness Brett Taylor told BuzzFeed News he was about to cross Flinders Street with his partner when the car came screeching into the intersection.
"At first, people didn't realise what was happening and thought it might have been a car accident, or that he was out of control," Taylor said.
"Then as they could see he was doing it on purpose, some people started to move back, to a safer distance, and others started to flee. A lot of people just held their ground and were watching what was going to happen next."
Taylor said the driver was "shouting angrily at everyone" as he drove around the intersection erratically, at one point mounting the kerb.
"He was driving the car aggressively and sticking up his middle finger," he said.
Taylor said that once police arrived at the intersection, the car took off towards Swanston Street.
In a press conference this afternoon Victorian premier Daniel Andrews said the incident was not linked to terrorism or other criminal activity.
Prime minister Malcolm Turnbull praised the professionalism of emergency workers at the scene.
"The professionalism of the police and the emergency workers who rushed to the aid of the victims, joined by bystanders, who, mindless of their own danger, sought to help those who had been attacked in this shocking crime. Their love, their selflessness, their courage is the very best of our own spirit," he said.
In the aftermath of the chaotic incident, messages of support started pouring in.
Horrific scenes in Melbourne this afternoon. Hearts go out to all those who've been hurt.
Our prayers and deepest sympathy are with the victims & their families, of this vicious criminal attack in Bourke St Melbourne today.
Many families have been devastated today in a vicious and deliberate act of violence. Our thoughts are with the victims and their families.
Devastated to hear about the stabbing in Windsor & attack in Melbourne CBD. Sending love and best wishes to all those affected.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Melbourne.
Horrible scene in #Melbourne CBD. My heart goes out to the victims and everyone impacted by this tragedy
