Car rams into shoppers, 3 killed
Twenty people injured in central mall area of Melbourne; driver arrested
MELBOURNE: A car ploughed into pedestrians on a popular shopping strip in the heart of Australia's second-largest city yesterday, killing three people including a young child, and injuring at least 20 more.
Police said they were not considering the incident an act of terrorism.
Witnesses described "bodies flying through the air" and people running out of the path of the speeding vehicle in the central mall area of Melbourne.
Moments before, passers-by had watched, astonished as the driver gesticulated out the window and spun the maroon-coloured saloon round a major intersection, blocking traffic.
The trail of violence took place barely a kilometre from Melbourne Park, where the world's top tennis stars were playing the opening Grand Slam of the year in a city teeming with tourists.
Police shot the 26-year-old male driver - who has a history of family violence, mental health and drug issues - in the arm and arrested him.
"This individual is not related to any counter-terrorism or any terrorism-related activities," said Mr Graham Ashton, chief commissioner for the state of Victoria.
He just kept going and collected people on his way.A witness on the driver who ploughed into pedestrians
"He is not on our books as having any connection with terrorism and we're not regarding this as a terrorism-related incident.
"What we do know of the person is there is an extensive family violence history involved."
Three people were killed at different locations on Bourke Street, a man and a woman in their 30s and a child whose age was not given for privacy reasons, Mr Ashton said.
Five of the victims are in a critical condition, including an infant, he added.
The Royal Children's Hospital said it was treating four children aged three months, two years, nine years and 12 years.
"The prayers and heartfelt sympathies of all Australians are with the victims and the families of the victims of this shocking crime in Melbourne today," Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said in a statement.
The driver allegedly stabbed his brother in the suburb of Windsor 6km south of Bourke Street early yesterday, Mr Ashton said.
Police had tried to intercept his car before it entered the city at 1.45pm local time and he was seen driving erratically outside Melbourne's main train station.
"We believe this male did some 'doughnuts' at Flinders Street and Swanston Street, turned left into the Bourke Street mall and deliberately drove into the crowd, continued along the footpath colliding with further pedestrians," Police Acting Commander Stuart Bateson said.
One witness, Ms Kylie Clark, told Melbourne's Herald Sun she saw "bodies flying through the air".
"It seemed to me (the vehicle) was being chased by an unmarked police car."
Another witness told the newspaper "he (the driver) wasn't stopping and people were trying to get away and he just kept going and collected people on his way".
Television footage showed the badly damaged car with the front doors open and the windscreen smashed.
A handcuffed man in his underwear was seen lying on a footpath surrounded by police.- AFP
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