One eyewitness who was inside Westfield Bondi Junction shopping mall when the attack unfolded described hiding in the back of a shop.
Crystal Wang explained how, after arriving at Westfield at around 3.20pm – just as the attack began – she walked into a clothes store where “the girls at the shop shut the door behind me and turned off lights.”
She continued: “I was really confused, and they told me someone is stabbing people with a knife in the mall. I was hiding at the back of the shop, saw some people fleeing, and then heard [a] few gun shots.”
At first, Crystal thought there had been a power cut, before she realized the severity of the situation she had found herself in.
“A siren went on and not long after, I heard gun shots and started to panic, I was worried the attacker also had a gun,” she said. “That’s when the shop assistants asked everyone to hide in their storage room.”
She added that management announcements probably made the situation worse.
“They were saying ‘all the customers please evacuate immediately.’
“We were obviously locked inside, just really confused if we should get out of the shop or stay in.
“The lady who’s making the announcement is obviously panicking as well, which just made us more anxious. She was even swearing at the end of her announcements.”
Crystal and other shoppers stayed in hiding for an hour and half, until they were able to leave.
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