At least 20 people have injured by a car travelling at speed down Bourke Street mall in the city’s centre
Three people are dead, including a young child, and more than 20 injured after a car drove into pedestrians in Bourke Street mall, one of the busiest areas in Melbourne’s central business district.
On Friday afternoon Victoria police confirmed a young child was among the dead, but could not give any further details about the victims.
Images showed scenes of carnage in the street, with a badly damaged red car, people trying to help the injured and an upturned pram on the corner of William and Bourke streets.
In a statement police said they the driver had been shot and was being treated for non-life-threatening injures. They said it was a deliberate act, but not linked to terrorism.
Police said the incident was connected to a stabbing that took place in the suburb of Windsor earlier in the day involving parties known to one another. They believe the same man took a woman hostage in his car. The woman managed to escape from the car on the Bolte Bridge, west of the city centre, they said.
Read more about Three killed after car mows down pedestrians in Melbourne