LAST UPDATE | 1 May 2020

FIVE PEOPLE WERE reportedly taken to hospital today after a stabbing spree at a shopping centre Australia’s northwestern Pilbara region.

The suspect was shot dead by police. Witnesses and victims have described that the man went on ‘a stabbing rampage’ with a number of people taken to hospital.

Western Australia police said officers shot and killed the man, aged in his early 30s, when tasers failed to subdue him.

“This was a very confronting and dangerous situation,” WA Police Commissioner Chris Dawson told media.

The attack was not believed to be terror related. The man would fly in to the city from Perth to work and then fly out again, Dawson said.

Witnesses said the man attacked people at random, including a woman pushing a pram, as he ran through the shopping centre with a large knife.

One victim who received stitches after the incident also told ABC News what happened:

I thought I got punched when he ran past me. I got stabbed by the fella when he ran past me, so I had to go to hospital and get stitches. I got three stitches.

Five people had been reportedly taken to hospital. All were in a stable condition.

WA Premier Mark McGowan described the attack as a “tragic and awful set of events”.

“All of our thoughts go to those people who have been hurt and all of our thoughts and appreciation go to those police officers,” he said.

- With reporting from AFP and Michelle Hennessy.