SYDNEY, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- The man who allegedly drove his car into crowds of pedestrians in Melbourne, causing chaos in the city, has been formally charged with five counts of murder.
Dimitrious Gargasoulas, 26, was questioned by Victoria Police for the first time late on Monday evening after he spent the weekend in hospital due to a gunshot wound sustained at the end of the rampage.
Prosecutors will allege that Gargasoulas, who was out on bail at the time of the incident, stabbed his brother, who remains in hospital, in the early hours of Friday morning before driving recklessly around Melbourne for 12 hours.
The incident came to a head when Gargasoulas drove his car into the pedestrian-only section of the popular Bourke Street shopping mall at about 2 p.m. local time on Friday, ploughing his car into crowds of unsuspecting shoppers.
Five people have died as a result, including a three-month-old baby boy and 10-year-old girl, and two more, including the baby's two-year-old sister, remain in a critical condition in hospital.
Gargasoulas was charged as thousands of people gathered in Melbourne's Federation Square, just a few hundred meters from where the rampage took place, for a vigil in memory of the victims and in support of those who survived.
"I see amongst your faces the diversity of our beloved city," Linda Dessau, the Governor of Victoria, told the crown on Monday night.
"Last Friday, tragedy did not distinguish on the basis of age, gender, culture, religion or background. But importantly, neither did goodness. On both sides of that ledger, we are all one."
Robert Doyle, the Lord Mayor of Melbourne, thanked the crowd for the solidarity and love they had displayed.
"We are here to share in our grief, but to gather strength and hope after an unthinkable act," Doyle said.
"Melbourne is our home. When it happens to one of us, it happens to all of us."
Henry Dow, a law student who was one of the citizens who provided first aid to the dozens of victims on the scene, told the crowd how a taxi driver named Lou jumped into action after the attack.
"I am Lou, you are going to be okay," was how the cabbie reassured the female victim, Mr Dow said.
"We are looking after you."
The pair commenced CPR on the woman, with Lou taking command.
He was a "genuine hero",Dow said.
Ron Iddles, secretary of Victoria's Police Association, on Tuesday said that he had been told there were multiple opportunities to safely intercept or box in Gargasoulas' car throughout Friday, but requests to do so were denied by higher-ranked officers.
Iddles said one of the chances to stop Gargasoulas was in the inner-southern suburbs, on the popular Chapel Street.
"Those who were on the street doing the job sitting behind him in heavy traffic on Chapel St believing they could have intercepted him safely should have been allowed to do so," Iddles told Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio on Tuesday.
Iddles, a former homicide detective with Victoria Police, said the organization was often too "risk averse."
"What I've been told is that there was ample opportunity for this person to be intercepted," he said.
