Hero dad jumps into action to save family at Bondi Junction Westfield

A father walking through Bondi Junction Westfield with his wife and three young kids did the unthinkable when a knifeman approached.

A heroic dad who came face-to-face with a knifeman in Bondi Junction Westfield squared up to the attacker to protect his family in incredible footage.

It shows people running for their lives inside the shopping centre as a man armed with a large blade chased them down.

One man walking with his wife and three kids then turns and sees the knifeman coming.

Instead of running he can be seen putting his body on the line and standing in front of the man to protect his family before the attacker skips off in a different direction.

Shoppers scan be seen fleeing as the attacker approaches.

He doesn’t back down and wards off the attacker.

Six people are dead, as well as the attacker, and many more injured after the mass stabbing inside a packed shopping centre, with shocking footage emerging of families fleeing for their lives.

The horror unfolded at 3.20pm on Saturday afternoon when a man began stabbing shoppers at random, including a woman and her nine-month-old baby.

Nine people were stabbed during the horror as panicked families ran for their lives before tactical police stormed the shopping centre.

He was then shot dead by a senior female police officer who was nearby at the time and bravely decided to take him on alone, stalking him through the mall before gunning him down.

news.com.au has obscured this image, which shows a body strewn across the floor outside Kmart.

A police officer is seen tending to someone on the floor of the shopping centre.

Police were seen battling to save victims’ lives across multiple stores, with blood splattered throughout the once bustling mall.

Stories are already emerging of heroic Australians battling to take down the knifeman, with some throwing tables and chairs at him and astonishing footage emerging of one man taking him on with a bollard. The man, wearing a white t-shirt, approaches the attacker - a man who appears in his 30s and wearing an Australian Rugby League team jersey - and attempts to stop him getting up an escalator. The footage then ends and it’s unclear what happened to the have-a-go-hero.

Footage from inside shows what appears to be a brave bystander trying to fend off the knifeman with a bollard.

A man is seen on an escalator brandishing a large knife. He is later seen on the floor.

Men saved stabbed baby with store clothes

Two men have described horrific scenes inside Bondi Junction Westfield — saying a baby and her mother were stabbed and that they frantically used clothes from a store to stop the bleeding.

Four people are dead and many more injured after a mass stabbing inside a packed shopping centre.

In an interview during a live cross on Channel Nine, the witnesses described the carnage.

“The baby got stabbed and, yeah the mum got stabbed,” one of the men told Nine.

Two men are being hailed as heroes.

The nine-month-old baby on a stretcher. Picture: Supplied

“The mum came over with the baby and threw it at me. And [I was] just holding the baby. Yeah. Looked pretty bad.”

They said they helped by holding the baby, trying to stem the blood flow and calling emergency services.

They said the injuries were “very bad”.

“There’s a lot of blood on the floor and I hope the baby’s alright,” they said.

Police are on scene after multiple reported stabbings at Bondi Junction. Picture: Supplied

The pair said they were shopping at the time of the incident.

“We saw the man run up to the woman with the baby, and then we were both ready to go and then we were both ready to go and help out. But I just said to my brother, we’ve got to run in, ran in, told the guys to just lock up the doors.

“And the mother came with the doors. And the mother came with the baby bleeding, stabbed, and we got them into the store and just got them safe and then rang for help.”

They then yelled to get some clothes to stop the bleeding.

“I just kept yelling out to get some clothes, get some shirts and just help us to compress and stop the baby from bleeding.”

It is understood the baby is nine months old.

“I think the baby’s fine,” one of the men said. “The mother, unfortunately, started to have a lot of blood coming out of her mouth.”

The two men have been hailed as heroes.