Ryan Bramble told Today this morning he and two mates were in the Zara store last Saturday afternoon when they heard screams outside.
“I just looked out the door to see what was going on, and there was just people everywhere running, running out all the exits,” he said.
“So me and a few mates walked out, out of Zara and towards the commotion, and as we were walking towards the commotion, there was just this one guy, the killer, that was walking by himself.”
Bramble said the man, later identified as Joel Cauchi, 40, was carrying a big “Rambo knife” in his hand, in a reference to the Sylvester Stallone action movie First Blood,
Soon after Scott – the first police officer on the scene – arrived and asked Bramble for a description of Cauchi and the direction he was heading.
Bramble recounted how he and other shoppers followed Scott as she pursued Cauchi through the shopping centre until the fateful confrontation, warning him to halt.
“Then we got close enough to him and he just stopped. And the cop, the whole time, she was saying, stop. stop running.”
He then froze for about 15 seconds and ignored warnings by Scott to drop the knife.
“He just turned around. Just charged straight back … at the female cop,” Bramble said.
He said his “heart dropped” as Cauchi headed towards him and other people.
“And yeah, she just let the gun go on him three times straight in the chest, and just killed him straight in front of me.”
Scott then performed CPR on the fallen man, but he died.
Bramble said Scott had given acted like a true “professional”.
“She’s a hero. Absolute hero. Like she gave him a chance. She gave him plenty of chances to drop the knife.”
Bramble said Scott had displayed “awesome” judgement and marksmanship.
“There was people behind him … if she missed with that bullet, she could have shot a bystander or anything.”
- Six people have been killed in a mass stabbing attack at Westfield shopping centre at Bondi Junction in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
- The man, 40-year-old Joel Cauchi, was shot dead by NSW Police Inspector Amy Scott at the scene. Police do not believe he acted “with ideation”.
- Twelve people were taken to hospital, though police said others may have presented independently with minor injuries.
- Five women and one man were killed in the attack, which also left a dozen injured.
- They include Faraz Tahir, 30, a refugee who started working as a security guard that day; Ashlee Good, 38, a mum whose baby was also stabbed; Dawn Singleton 25, a shop worker and daughter of businessman John Singleton, architect and mother-of-two Jade Young, 47, Chinese student Yixuan Cheng, 27, and Pikria Darchia, 55.
- Three people – a woman, man and a nine-month-old baby girl – remain in a critical condition.
- Eight others are stable and one woman has been discharged from hospital.
- Details are emerging of heroic acts by shoppers who tried to help as the rampage unfolded.
- Mobile phone footage shows crowds hiding in stairwells, with other shoppers saying they were evacuated to the roof and others cowered in shops.
- The shopping centre will remain closed on Monday as police work through the crime scene.
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