In Australia's second-largest city, a driver and a second man have both been arrested by police after mowing down pedestrians in the city's central core.
The incident happened as the rush hour was getting underway, just outside the entrance of one of the busiest train stations in the city and one of Melbourne's busy streetcar lines.
Victorian state police say they had saturated Melbourne's central business district within 45 minutes of the incident. At a press conference two hours after the incident took place, they confirmed that their investigation indicates that it was a "deliberate act."
Media conference regarding the Flinders Street incident with Commander Russell Barrett. pic.twitter.com/j7zx0V5fYQ
— Victoria Police (@VictoriaPolice) December 21, 2017
Paramedics have now transported 13 people to city hospitals. Two more people are being assessed by paramedics at the scene.
— Ambulance Victoria (@AmbulanceVic) December 21, 2017
Australian media reports are now indicating that the incident was not an act of terrorism, but rather of a mentally-ill man with a history of drug addiction.
A witness told Australia's public broadcaster that he couldn't ascertain whether the incident was intentional or accidental. "It could have just been a garden-variety drunkard...but there was no braking [from the driver]," he observed. He claimed that the car only came to a halt after colliding with a streetcar stop.
Thirteen people have been taken to two different hospitals in Melbourne's downtown core, including a pre-school aged child who has suffered a serious head injury. The state of Victoria's ambulance service says that two others are being treated on-site at this time. There are not currently any reports of fatalities.
The incident comes after a similar event this past January, also in Melbourne, when six people died after a driver ran down pedestrians in a busy walking area -- police say that incident was not terror-related. In the year since that incident, state police in Victoria have installed concrete barriers on major thoroughfares, including on Flinders Street where this incident took place.