Critical incident declared after man shot

A man was shot and a baby was among several people feared stabbed, at a major shopping mall in Sydney, Australia, police said Saturday.

New South Wales state police said in a statement on Facebook that a “critical incident” had commenced following the shooting.

The statement added that emergency services were called to the Westfield Bondi Junction mall just before 4 p.m. local time (2 a.m. ET) “following reports of multiple people stabbed.”

A spokesperson for New South Wales Ambulance told NBC News that a nine-month-old baby was “transported to Sydney Children’s Hospital with a pediatric stab wound.”

The infant was among seven people transported to hospital, although the spokesperson said their conditions and details of their injuries were unknown.

Hundreds of people were evacuated from the mall.

Local officials in the Sydney suburb of Waverley said the center was “locked down.”

“A police operation is currently underway at Westfield Bondi Junction,” the council said on X “The centre is locked down amid reports of multiple stabbings.”

Several posts on social media showed crowds fleeing the mall and police cars and emergency services rushing to the area.