Australia - Mass Stabbing And Vehicle Fire Chaos On Melbourne Streets (Video)

A violent attack unfolded in Melbourne's Bourke Street Mall after a man crashed a car and then violently attacked bystanders and good Samaritans with a knife. Four people were injured in the attack and the assailant's condition is unknown. ABC's Meegan May said, "A couple of people on the trams were saying someone had a knife and when I got up and looked through the rear window, I could see a big ute on fire driving across the road."

"It sort of came to a stop on the other side, and then I could see a man and two police sort of trying to calm him down. He was waving his arms around, someone was saying he had a knife - I couldn’t tell from where I was."

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/abcmelbourne?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@abcmelbourne</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/bourkest?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#bourkest</a> source from wechat <a href="https://t.co/PiHjr6UzJ1">pic.twitter.com/PiHjr6UzJ1</a></p>&mdash; windix (@windix) <a href="https://twitter.com/windix/status/1060775278358626304?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 9, 2018</a></blockquote>

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“And then not too long after that, I heard a loud bang that sounded a bit like a gunshot, nothing like an explosion, and then a person near me said they could see someone giving someone chest compressions, and an ambulance and 50 cop cars came out of nowhere not long after that," May said.

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One witness named Neil McKellar works in the nearby Hylands Bookshop on Bourke Street where the attack took place. McKellar described hearing a loud explosion followed by gunshots. When he went outside to investigate he saw police and emergency services had blacked off the area but for the most part the scene was under control.

"We heard the explosion, and we heard gunshots later," McKellar added. "We’re in an ex-cinema in Bourke Street. We heard it but we didn’t know what it was." Footage of the attack shows a man using a shopping cart to subdue the attacker but it wasn't until police arrived and used firearms that the man's violent rampage came to an end.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Police are rapidly moving people away from Swanston St. Extending the police lines <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BourkeSt?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BourkeSt</a></p>&mdash; Melissa Davey (@MelissaLDavey) <a href="https://twitter.com/MelissaLDavey/status/1060781450427953153?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 9, 2018</a></blockquote>

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The police were able to contain the situation and cordoned off a large section of Swanston Street and Bourke to carry out their investigation. They warned people to avoid traveling on Russell Street, Little Collins Street and Elizabeth Street and Little Bourke Street until further notice.

The trams in those areas are also shut down for the time being and are not running in either direction. A worker at a nearby burger shop recalled, "We just heard these blasts and a car was on fire. And then we saw police coming up to our shop. They just came and put the police line thing, you know. We asked them what happened, and they said they couldn’t say. They’re not letting anyone come near the place."

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Fire crews are at the scene and the ute fire has been extinguished. Crowds have gathered watching it all unfold behind police lines <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BourkeSt?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BourkeSt</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/naamanzhou?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@naamanzhou</a> <a href="https://t.co/QgRTQipHRP">pic.twitter.com/QgRTQipHRP</a></p>&mdash; Melissa Davey (@MelissaLDavey) <a href="https://twitter.com/MelissaLDavey/status/1060776370622496769?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 9, 2018</a></blockquote>

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Source: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2018/nov/09/melbourne-bourke-street-police-incident-declared-after-car-in-flames