Staff and shoppers return to Sydney mall 6 days after mass stabbings

There was a large police and security presence, with guards wearing black stab-proof vests posted on each level of the mall.

Shoppers and workers returned to a "really quiet" Sydney mall Friday, where six days earlier an assailant stabbed six people to death and wounded more than a dozen others in an attack that police believe targeted women.

Westfield Bondi Junction mall near world-famous Bondi Beach had opened Thursday, although shops inside were closed, for a "community reflection day." New South Wales state Premier Chris Minns described it as "the first step in healing" in what has been a traumatic week for Australia's largest city.

There was a large police and security presence, with guards wearing black stab-proof vests posted on each level of the mall. Visitors numbered in the hundreds, but were fewer than the usual expected on a Friday during school holidays.

One visitor, Anthony Simpson, shopping with his two children, described the atmosphere at the usually busy shopping center as "somber."

"It's got an eerie feeling, I guess you could say," Simpson said.