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Bourke Street tragedy: Witness recalls walking into a scene of confusion and horror

Fairfax Media's Michael Harry witnessed the aftermath of the Bourke Street tragedy. This is his account of what he saw.

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I'd just had lunch with a friend on Hardware Lane and was on the way back to the office. When I reached the intersection of Bourke Street I felt an electric change in the atmosphere – the city street was eerily quiet, empty of cars and trams, and there was a commotion on the other side of the road.

A man in a blue business shirt was splayed on the ground. There was blood on the footpath. It was brighter than I thought it should be, almost pink.

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I had a queasy realisation that something really bad was happening, but my legs kept carrying me over the road.

I looked to my left as I crossed Bourke Street and saw the mall closed off, police cars across the intersection. This was big. Should I run? Help? I had no idea.

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I reached the footpath on the south side, and a group of people crowded around the businessman with umbrellas. I saw another body – an older woman? – lying on the ground further up the footpath, and another body up ahead.

Dozens of people teemed past me in both directions, on phones, looking confused, but the scene was virtually silent. Where were the cops?

"What the hell happened?" I asked the closest person to me, a tradie in high-vis gear.

"Some maniac drove on the footpath and the police shot him!"

"What?"

"I know mate. We're going to need a few beers tonight."

I reeled further up the hill towards Queen Street, past the funereal huddle of umbrellas.

I saw a twisted piece of a car bumper lying on the bitumen. I passed another woman lying on the ground, civilians squatting beside her.

Then I saw a leg, bent out at the most unnatural angle I've ever seen. No leg should ever bend that way. A paramedic was bent over the body, pumping furiously.

I turned down McKillop Street, and dared sneak a glance back. I saw a face, a young face, younger than mine, and a blonde head of hair. A person struggling for life. Sirens bellowed in the distance, headed this way.

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