One dead, man arrested after car ploughs into pedestrians in Melbourne's CBD
A 26-year-old man is undergoing a mental health assessment after a car ploughed into pedestrians before crashing into two cars in Melbourne's CBD last night. One person died and five others were injured.
Transcript
00:00 Victorians are coming to terms with a troubling and traumatic major event in Melbourne CBD
00:06 last night that left several witnesses traumatised.
00:10 The scene here behind me has been cleared up this morning but when I arrived on the
00:14 scene at 6.30 this morning, police officers remained on the scene with police tape up
00:19 and emergency responders were still here.
00:22 The cars that were involved in the incident have been towed away and street sweepers have
00:27 moved through, clearing debris up that was on the street from the accident.
00:31 Now what we know about the incident is that at about 20 minutes past 6 last night, a white
00:36 Toyota sedan ploughed through three pedestrians at the intersection of Russell and Swanston
00:43 Street.
00:44 Now after hitting those pedestrians, the car then moved through Bourke Street along with
00:48 the trams normally are and hit into two vehicles at the intersection of Russell and Bourke
00:54 Street, just right where I am behind me.
00:57 Now those two vehicles, a Hyundai and a Mazda were hit by the driver.
01:02 A 76-year-old bronze McMahon who was the driver of the Hyundai was unfortunately killed.
01:08 Meanwhile the two men who were inside the Mazda, believed to be an Uber ride share,
01:12 they were taken to hospital with minor injuries.
01:15 Police have confirmed this morning some further updates about some of the pedestrians that
01:19 were involved in the incident last night, believed to be a 26-year-old South Yarra man,
01:25 a 23-year-old woman from China and a 35-year-old Docklands woman.
01:29 They say two of them are in a stable condition and the third is in a serious condition.
01:35 Police were able to arrest a 26-year-old Melton West man last night at the scene.
01:40 Conveniently two police officers were just nearby the Melbourne East police station,
01:45 which is just about 50 metres from where I'm standing.
01:48 Those two police officers rushed to the scene and were able to arrest the man, who they
01:53 say was just sitting calmly on top of the car, his car.
01:56 They were able to pull him down and arrest him just there.
01:59 Here's what some of the witnesses had to say last night who were on the scene.
02:05 Like it was a very loud noise, like you can realise that this noise is not coming from
02:09 something natural, it's coming from something big, you know.
02:12 I always saw Melbourne as a safe place, you know.
02:14 I always was walking here four, five am at night.
02:18 So it's always been a safe place but I don't know what caused that injury.
02:23 Pretty chaos just all over the place.
02:25 Not something you expect, especially in Melbourne as well, so it's pretty full on.
02:28 I generally thought it was just construction and then, yeah, it's not a nice sight to see
02:33 or hear about.
02:34 That's the tram stop.
02:35 I got off there and then went to the bar and about 20 minutes later we received the calls
02:42 and were like, "Are you okay?
02:43 Are you okay?"
02:44 And yeah, I didn't know it was there.
02:45 It's just very surprising to see that this can happen right in the heart of the city.
02:53 Police were quick to confirm last night in a stand-up quite late at night that they said
02:58 that even in the early stages of the investigation this incident has no links to terror or terrorism.
03:04 They say the 26-year-old Melton West man is known to police and is known to have had mental
03:09 health incidents with police as well.
03:12 So they just emphasised it again, they say there has been no links to terror at this
03:16 stage.
03:17 Obviously this is eerily reminiscent of some other awful events that happened at Bourke
03:21 Street here in Melbourne as well.
03:23 In 2017, the Bourke Street Mall massacre which killed six people and then in 2018 when Hassan
03:29 Shia Ali set his car on fire and stabbed three people just about 100 metres from where I'm
03:35 standing.
03:36 So Bourke Street and Melbourne are no strangers to some incidents like this.
03:40 Unfortunately, police and Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews thanked first responders last
03:46 night as well as the public and witnesses who were nearby who jumped to those pedestrians
03:51 help and stayed with them until ambulances arrived which obviously would have been a
03:54 very traumatic scene to witness.
03:57 Here's Superintendent Zorka Dunstan last night speaking with the media about the incident.
04:03 I can assure the community that there is no ongoing threat and the area will remain closed
04:09 while the investigation continues.
04:11 At this early stage there is nothing to suggest any terror links.
04:15 The man is known to police, he is recorded with us for some mental health interactions.
04:21 That's all we know at this stage.
04:24 Superintendent Zorka Dunstan there confirming that there is no further threat to the public
04:29 at this stage.
04:30 They say even in the early stages of the investigation there's no link to terror or terrorism and
04:35 they say people can go about their business today as people are doing right now walking
04:40 along here, trams are back to normal but obviously very shaken.
04:43 Victorians are going to be walking around the streets today coming to terms with this
04:47 major incident in the city last night.
04:49 [BLANK_AUDIO]