Prince William and Kate Middleton issue statement on Sydney shopping centre stabbing that left six people dead

The Prince and Princess of Wales have said they are “shocked and saddened” by the Sydney stabbings.

Taking to their official X account, Prince William and Kate Middleton, issued the following statement: “We are shocked and saddened by the terrible events in Sydney earlier today. Our thoughts are with all those affected, including the loved ones of those lost and the heroic emergency responders who risked their own lives to save others. W & C.”

The statement was posted as it was reported that the knife attacker who killed six people and injured several others in a Sydney shopping centre earlier today (Saturday April 13) has been shot dead by police.

The lone knifeman attacked shoppers on Saturday afternoon (April 13) at the Westfield shopping centre in the suburb of Bondi Junction in eastern Sydney. A female New South Wales Police inspector confronted the attacker on her own and shot him dead as he raised a knife and lunged at her. Police said they had identified the attacker as a 40-year-old man who was known to them, but added that they do not think he was motivated by terrorism.

Four women and a man died in the shopping centre and another woman later died in hospital, police said. A nine-month-old infant has undergone surgery and eight people, including the child, are in hospitals around Sydney receiving treatment for “different injuries”. Reports have suggested the woman who died in hospital is the child’s mother.