A man from County Clare, Ireland, who was present at the Westfield Bondi Junction shopping centre in Sydney during the stabbing attack that left six people dead, spoke about the chaos that ensued as shoppers frantically fled the area. Niall Naughton, who has lived in Sydney for seven months, was trying on clothes when the attack began on the afternoon of 9 April. Once he realised what was happening, Naughton sought refuge in the basement storeroom with other shoppers, accompanied by staff from the store. The group stayed hidden until they were able to safely leave the premises.
Naughton described the scene as “absolutely horrific”, and said that “everyone was in such a state of panic” that even young children were screaming and crying. They were unsure of where the danger was coming from or how many people were involved, so when they fled to the storeroom, they did not have time to look back. After waiting there for several minutes, a staff member revealed an emergency exit door, which led to the back of the building. Naughton was the first person to reach the door and looked outside to check for more danger. He saw “hundreds and hundreds of people” running frantically across the street in front of the cars at full speed. Once he determined that it was safe to leave, Naughton quickly fled the building and called some friends to take him to a secure place.
Naughton stated that the experience has “properly shook [him] to the core,” adding that “in some form of attack like that” he had never considered being involved in. Naughton commended the staff who helped to ensure the customers’ safety, saying that they did everything in their power to shield them from harm. Meanwhile, the Irish government assured its people that no Irish expatriates were killed or injured in the attack. However, the government acknowledged that several Irish citizens could have witnessed the traumatic events, urging them to seek support if necessary.
The attacker, a 36-year-old man, was shot dead by the police after the assault, with eight people injured and taken to local hospitals for treatment, including a nine-month-old infant. The authorities are working to understand the motive for the attack, with unsolved mental health conditions suggested as a possible factor. The police have asked anyone with photographs or videos from the attack to provide them to the authorities so that they might be used in further investigations
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