SARAH DINGLE: Our reporter, Tom Nightingale, is at the Victoria Police headquarters in the city and joins me now.
Tom, what's the current situation regarding closures in the city?
TOM NIGHTINGALE: Sarah, things are returning to normal, but that process is not yet complete.
As we've heard earlier, when it immediately happened the CBD grid quickly went to almost a standstill. Trams were sitting stationary on the tracks, cars were stuck in traffic and not able to move.
And even for pedestrians, the location of where this happened meant that it was pretty much impossible to cross Melbourne's CBD from its north to its south; and it was very difficult to do so from the east to the west.
Now things have eased a little bit. There is only one real road closure: that's Bourke Street, which is still in the heart of the city but its less, perhaps, disruptive than what was the case a couple of hours ago.
As we've heard, police are still urging people to avoid that area. That's not for their own safety but, rather, just for logistics.
This place where it all happened: the location is a road that's fairly important to get traffic through and it will have a pretty disruptive effect throughout the rest of the day in Melbourne.
SARAH DINGLE: How long will it take police forensic teams to go through the area before they can fully open up the city to the public, do you think?
TOM NIGHTINGALE: That's one of the things: Police just can't say at the moment.
Earlier, again after it happened, there were hundreds of police on the scene interviewing witnesses, handling the people who were watching and who were caught behind the rope.
That's largely dissipated now, but there are still plenty of police on scene, as you said, doing forensic examinations. It is still a crime scene and it will remain so for, I guess, a period of time today.
{1:47}
SARAH DINGLE: For our national audience, give us a sense of where this incident took place. This is a major thoroughfare and we see a lot of people crowded around?
TOM NIGHTINGALE: That's right, that's right. It started, as we've heard, police believe overnight in the suburb of Windsor but then it very quickly involved this afternoon some of the busiest spots in Melbourne.
If you cast your mind to how this unfolded: firstly, the man responsible allegedly had a woman hostage in his car. Now, we are told that she escaped on the Bolte Bridge.
Now, that's one of the two bridges that cross the Yarra River in Melbourne. It's a major road: thousands of vehicles a minute in peak hour.
If you look at how it unfolded, then the man is reported to have been driving quite erratically: doing 'donuts' outside Flinders Street Station, which is the busiest train station in Melbourne.
He then, we're told, took a turn up Swanston Street. Now, for people who've been to Melbourne, that's a street that you're not allowed to drive down with your car. It's restricted to pedestrians and trams but nonetheless, that's what he did.
He did that, we're told, for a couple of hundred meters: and then he turned into the Bourke Street Mall.
Now as the name suggests, that is a mall. It is also an area where cars aren't allowed to go but nonetheless, this is what that man did. He drove down that mall for a couple of hundred meters and then into a crowd of people: a crowd of pedestrians who were crossing the road.
Now, the weather in Melbourne today has been quite mild. It's not a scorcher: it's a Friday afternoon in summer.
There were plenty of people in the CBD at that time. There would have been hundreds of people at the intersection of Bourke and Elizabeth Streets at that time.
He's obviously, we're told, injured at least 20 or 25 people. Three people are dead. There is no doubt that there were certainly hundreds of people around who would be contacting police as witnesses.
SARAH DINGLE: And we heard from some very distressed callers earlier. How shocking has this incident been for Melburnians?
TOM NIGHTINGALE: I think it's really hit a nerve: perhaps more so in the immediate aftermath, when there was the unresolved question of whether or not it was related to terrorism.
I think, once police came out about three o'clock this afternoon and said, "No, we think this is not related to that. We think it's related to something else:" word very quickly spread and I think people were quite reassured by that.
Nonetheless, it's still quite distressing. It's in the middle of the CBD. People have been going about their normal business and have been hurt or killed.
It certainly has left a lot of people really shocked and really upset.
SARAH DINGLE: Our Melbourne reporter, Tom Nightingale, there.
The Premier of Victoria and the Police Commissioner fronted the media to give some more details of what is arguably one of Melbourne's darkest days:
DANIEL ANDREWS: Our hearts are breaking this afternoon that a number of people have died; others remain in a critical condition, very, very seriously ill, gravely ill in hospitals around our city.
But we are stronger than this. We, through our response, through the work of our emergency services, the work that - the instinctive way in which Victorians have reached out to support each other, we can be confident that we are stronger than this evil, criminal act.
I now want to ask the Chief Commissioner to provide some further details. We're happy to take any questions.
Just before I go to the Chief Commissioner: we'd be indebted to all of you, both through the coverage now, but also in your bulletins and in your coverage.
1 800 727 077: that's the line that anybody who's concerned about a loved one, can't locate a loved one; anyone who's concerned about whether someone close to them may have been caught up in this can ring that number and get the assistance that they need.
Anybody with information: Crime Stoppers is always the place to go. And the Chief Commissioner can speak about other ways in which we are going to support the community through this very difficult, very challenging, you know, heartbreaking set of circumstances that we have been forced to confront this afternoon.
We are so proud of our emergency services; so proud of Victorians who, in the midst of this, stepped forward to help their fellow citizens. And we are all confident that we are bigger and stronger and better than this evil, criminal act today.
Any support that is needed will be provided. Any resources that are needed will be provided as we come to terms with this act.
I now ask the Chief Commissioner to provide you with some further information and then, as I said, we're happy to take any questions that you might have.
GRAHAM ASHTON: Thanks, Premier. Thanks for coming along.
I just wanted to give you a bit of synopsis of what we know in terms of what has occurred.
After that, if there's questions, particularly questions related to health-related issues around injuries et cetera, obviously our Ambulance Victoria senior representative is here as well that can take any of those questions as well.
So we do know that at about 1:45 this afternoon a vehicle has entered the city, driving erratically. It's been doing what basically are 'burnouts' on the corner of Swanston and Flinders Street.
The vehicle has then proceeded up Swanston Street, has turned left into Bourke Street, entered the mall.
At that point, as we understand to date, that vehicle has commenced hitting pedestrians - we believe at this point in time that we suspect that that's intentionally hitting pedestrians - travelling at speed right through the mall.
It has then continued along Bourke Street, continuing over the intersection of Elizabeth Street and has made its way up to approximately 501 or thereabouts: outside the RACV club in Bourke Street.
And at that time police have intercepted the vehicle. As I understand it, they've rammed the vehicle. An offender has been taken into custody.
During that process the offender has been shot by police. He's been injured and we believe he's been hit in the arm. Those injuries are being treated at the moment in hospital.
That offender is at hospital under police (edit) and obviously being treated for those injuries, which we regard as not life-threatening at this stage.
In terms of people who have been badly injured and deceased as a result of this act by this offender - I should point out what we know of the offender is a 26-year-old man. He has been involved in this issue, this incident.
He has killed, through that process of driving into people, hitting pedestrians: currently we have three people who have been confirmed deceased - a man and a woman in in their 30s and then a child.
For reasons of family notification, I won't give you the age of the child at this stage. But a child is also among the deceased at those locations.
These deceased are at separate locations in Bourke Street, so they're not located together. They are at different intersections as this vehicle has made its way up. So we don't believe at this point that either of those two adults or that child are related.
But certainly they have been killed at various locations, as this vehicle has made its way up Bourke Street.
I don't believe any of those fatalities were in the mall, although we do have injured people from the mall.
In terms of further people that have been injured: we understand at the moment we've got about 15 people who were injured by the vehicle and, of those people, we have five people currently in a critical condition at hospital.
There isn't one hospital involved here. There are a number of hospitals where injured have been taken to.
We also have other people who are presenting as a result of witnessing the incidents with health problems; and Ambulance Victoria are in the process of treating those people. And they may wish to make some further comment on that in a moment.
SARAH DINGLE: That was Police Chief Commissioner for Victoria, Graham Ashton.
Melbourne CBD slowly returning to normal after fatal car crash
Tom Nightingale reported this story on Friday, January 20, 2017 18:10:00
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