Man drives SUV into crowd in Melbourne, injures 19
SYDNEY, Australia — The driver of an SUV that rammed into a crowd in central Melbourne on Thursday, injuring 19 people, is an Australian citizen of Afghan descent with a history of drug use and mental illness but no known links to terrorism, police said.
Police said the 32-year-old driver, who was not identified, was arrested and had been known to police for minor assault and traffic offences.
The motive for the attack was not immediately known.
“We don’t at this time have any evidence or any intelligence to indicate there’s a connection with terrorism,” said Victoria state police acting commissioner Shane Patton.
The streets outside the city’s iconic Flinders St. railway station were crowded with Christmas shoppers Thursday afternoon when a white Suzuki SUV ran a red light and sped up to slam into pedestrians crossing the road before crashing into a traffic barrier.
Victoria state Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed that 19 people had been taken to hospitals. Four were listed in critical condition and were believed to include a preschool-aged child, Australian media reported.
Andrews described the incident as “an act of evil and an act of cowardice, perpetrated against innocent bystanders.”
Witnesses described a horrific scene.
“I was crossing Flinders St. on the way to the train station. I heard an engine rev behind me and heard a thump,” one man identified only as David said on ABC TV. He said he turned around saw “people literally getting thrown into the air as it hit them.”
Bystanders rushed to drag the driver out of the vehicle before police arrived.
Patton said the investigation would involve the force’s counterterrorism unit to ensure “that there isn’t that connection, and that there is no ongoing threat” but that the attack was being treated as a singular incident.
He said police were working with Australian intelligence agency ASIO and Australian Federal Police and that there was no intelligence to suggest the man was a person of interest to those agencies.
“We understand he’s on a mental health plan and receiving treatment for a mental illness,” Patton said.