A mass slaying in a Sydney, Australia mall has prompted Prince William and wife Kate Middleton to release their first public statement in weeks. The couple, which has remained silent since Middleton revealed her cancer diagnosis in March, took to Instagram on Saturday to express their shock at today’s stabbing spree at the Westfield Bondi Junction mall. Seven people were killed in the onslaught, and eight more have been hospitalized, Reuters reports, including a nine-month-old baby.
According to the New York Times, a single suspect was behind the attack, which began at around 4 p.m. local time Saturday. A witness who spoke with Reuters said the suspect “was just running around with his knife.” Another described the man, who was reportedly dressed in an Australian national rugby league jersey and shorts, as “on a killing spree” and said, “He had a nice big blade on him.”
A sole female police officer who was directed to the suspect by the fleeing crowd at the mall ran toward him, New South Wales Police Assistant Commissioner Anthony Cooke said at a press conference. According to Cooke, when the suspect lunged at the officer with his weapon, she opened fire, then “went over and was giving him CPR,” a witness told Reuters. “If she did not shoot him, he would have kept going, he was on the rampage,” the witness said.
The alleged assailant, who has not been publicly named, died as a result of the shooting. According to the New South Wales Police, he was a 40-year-old man who police believe was acting randomly. “There’s no suggestion there was anyone targeted,” New South Wales Police Commissioner Karen Webb said at a press conference. Investigators “don’t have fears for that person holding an ideation,” Webb said. “In other words … it’s not a terrorism incident.”
Via their Instagram account, William and Middleton posted to the platform’s Stories function saying, “We are shocked and saddened by the terrible events in Sydney earlier today.”
“Our thoughts are with all those affected, including the loved ones of those lost and the heroic emergency responders who risked their own lives to save others,” the post, which will disappear from the platform 24 hours after posting, continued. It was signed “W & C.”
The post marks the first public remarks from the royal couple since their joint statement following Middleton’s March 22 video explaining her months-long absence from royal duties following surgery in January. “Tests after the operation found cancer had been present,” Middleton said in March, necessitating “a course of preventative chemotherapy.”
As a result, the family stepped away from royal duties, including the traditional family gathering on Easter Sunday, opting to spend their children’s Easter holiday break in Windsor. Sources close to the family suggest that after their children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis, return to school on April 17, the couple might slowly resume public life.
King Charles III, who himself has recently reemerged to public view after cancer treatments of his own, also released a statement Saturday regarding the attack. “My wife and I were utterly shocked and horrified to hear of the tragic stabbing incident in Bondi,” he said in a statement.
“Our hearts go out to the families and loved ones of those who have been so brutally killed during such a senseless attack. While details of these shocking circumstances are still emerging, our thoughts are also with those who were involved in the response, and we give thanks for the bravery of the first responders and emergency services.”
Australia is a constitutional monarchy that’s ostensibly led by Charles, who last visited the country in 2018. At the time, he visited as the representative of Queen Elizabeth II, then considered Australia’s head of state. According to Charles’s nephew, Peter Phillips, who was in Australia last month, the royal family has a “huge affinity” for Australia, as “all of us have friends over here.”