One man has died and another was in a serious condition after being stabbed in the stomach during a trail of chaotic incidents across southern Sydney suburbs on Friday afternoon.
Police said the drama began when they tried to stop the driver of a 4WD not displaying number plates on the Hume Highway at Bass Hill shortly before 3pm.
The 4WD rammed the police vehicle and took off towards Chullora, where the 24-year-old driver stole a small supermarket delivery truck. The truck hit numerous vehicles before it was involved in a multi-car crash in West Botany Street, Rockdale.
A bystander was stabbed when the driver tried to take possession of another vehicle, police said. Video of the scene showed a man stabbing the victim, believed to be aged 20, in the middle of the road.
A witness, who did not want to be identified, said they were working at a business nearby when people in shock were brought into the building.
The driver then stole a taxi, which could be seen in another video doing a U-turn before mounting the kerb, briefly driving along the footpath and then speeding away on the wrong side of the road.
Police said the man, who had a history of mental health issues, drove the stolen taxi to Forest Road, Arncliffe, where he got out and was confronted by police before producing a knife.
“The offender then stabbed himself to the chest and as a result is now deceased,” the acting assistant commissioner, Mick Fitzgerald, told reporters.
“The offender wasn’t trying to intentionally harm people on the way. He could have – if he’d wished to – harmed a great number of both humans and vehicles.”
Fitzgerald said officers had “attempted to utilise their Tasers but prior (to that) he’s then stabbed himself”. Police rendered first aid, but the man died at the scene.
The man stabbed in Rockdale underwent surgery in St George Hospital and was in a serious but stable condition, police said.
One man told AAP his friend witnessed the attack. He said the victim was stabbed in the stomach with a large kitchen knife after he ran out from a nearby gym to intervene.
One woman said the man “ran her off the road” before he crashed into others. “He actually looked right at me and I can’t get his face out of my mind,” she wrote on Facebook.
• In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14. International suicide helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org.
