A man is in police custody after allegedly firing up to a hundred bullets into a busy street in Sydney, wounding twenty people.
Authorities were called to the Inner West suburb in the early evening on Sunday, where the alleged gunman was reportedly firing indiscriminately at passing vehicles, including police vehicles, according to New South Wales Police.
“There could have been anywhere between 50 and 100 shots that have been discharged,” said Acting Superintendent Stephen Parry.
Two hours after the incident, police entered a unit above a business and arrested the 60-year-old suspect.
- The man was taken to hospital for treatment of injuries sustained during his arrest.
- One man self-presented at hospital with a gunshot wound and is in a serious condition.
- Nineteen others were treated for shrapnel or shattered glass injuries, several of whom were admitted to hospital.
One witness, who gave his name as Tadgh, told ABC he had been watching rugby when the gunshots began: “It was very loud and ‘bang, bang, bang’—flash-bangs, sparks, smoke, the whole works. It was something out of a movie, really.”
A police investigation is ongoing.
Mass shootings are relatively rare in Australia, largely due to strict gun laws. Following the 1996 mass shooting in Port Arthur, Tasmania, in which a lone gunman killed 35 people, Australia imposed a ban on automatic and semi-automatic weapons, which remains in effect today.
