ALERT: Austrailia – 4 Killed in Central Melbourne Shopping District as Car Strikes Pedestrians (January 20, 2017)

January 20, 2017

ALERT: Austrailia – 4 Killed in Central Melbourne Shopping District as Car Strikes Pedestrians

Earlier today, a car ran into pedestrians along Melbourne, Australia’s Bourke Street in its Central Business District, killing four and wounding dozens more. Police say they “were not considering the incident an act of terrorism” and was linked to an earlier stabbing in Melbourne’s south side.

According to ABC News Australia:

A young child is among four people who are dead after a car was deliberately driven into pedestrians in Melbourne’s Bourke Street Mall, police say.

Key points:

 Police say driver was linked to an earlier stabbing in the city’s south

 Children are among the at least 24 people injured

 Police say incident was not terror related

It is believed 26-year-old Dimitrious Gargasoulas, also known as James, was the driver. Police have not confirmed his identity. Police said they shot the suspect before he was arrested on Bourke St. He is under police guard in hospital. They said he had been linked to an early morning stabbing in the city’s south.

A man and a woman, both in their 30s, and the child,were killed in different locations along Bourke St, Police Commissioner Graham Ashton said.

Police announced that a fourth person had died later in the evening.

Police said more than 20 people were injured. Up to five are understood to be in a critical condition.

The injured were taken to The Alfred, St Vincent’s, Royal Melbourne and Royal Children’s hospitals. A three-month-old is being operated on after being rushed to the hospital in a police car and a two-year-old is in intensive care.

Commissioner Ashton said at 1:45pm the vehicle entered the city driving erratically and did “burnouts” on the corner of Swanston and Flinders streets. “The vehicle proceeded up Swanston Street, then turned left into Bourke Street and entered the mall,” he said. “We suspect that [the driver was] intentionally hitting pedestrians. Travelling at speed right through the mall. It has then continued along Bourke Street, continuing over the intersection of Elizabeth Street and it has made its way up to approximately 501, or thereabouts outside the RACV Club in Bourke Street. At that time, police intercepted the vehicle, as I understand it, they rammed the vehicle.”

Police said they believed the man was involved in a stabbing at 2:15am in Windsor, where he allegedly attacked his brother.

Commissioner Ashton said the suspect was known to police and was also charged over an incident last weekend.