Australian police yesterday said a 40-year-old itinerant with mental illness was behind a Sydney shopping center stabbing rampage that killed six people, including a new mum whose nine-month-old baby is still in hospital with serious wounds.
New South Wales Police Assistant Commissioner Anthony Cooke said the assailant — who was shot and killed by a senior police officer at the scene on Saturday — was Queensland man Joel Cauchi.
Five women and one male security guard were killed in the attack as Cauchi roved through a packed shopping center in the city’s Bondi Junction neighborhood with a large knife. Twelve more people are still in hospital.
Photo: AFP
Cooke said there was no evidence to suggest Cauchi was “driven by any particular motivation, ideology or otherwise.”
“We know that the offender in the matter suffered from, suffers from, mental health,” he said.
Cauchi’s parents said their son had been living in a vehicle and hostels of late, and was only in sporadic contact via text messages.
Police said he was diagnosed with a mental health issue at age 17, but they had no indication as to why he might have become violent.
His parents issued a statement through the police offering condolences to their son’s victims and their families.
They also sent a message of “support” to the officer who shot him, “expressing their concerns for her welfare.”
Queensland police said Cauchi had been in contact with police several times over the past four to five years, but had never been arrested or charged with any offense.
Stories of courage are still emerging from Saturday’s attack. One young man was filmed fending off the attacker on an escalator, armed only with a shopping center bollard, while storekeepers opened their doors to shelter frightened shoppers.
However, the story of 38-year-old mother Ashlee Good’s desperate final act to save her baby daughter Harriet has struck a chord with many shocked Australians.
“The baby got stabbed,” one man at the scene with his brother told Channel 9 News.
“The mum got stabbed and the mum came over with the baby and threw it at me,” he said.
In a statement to Australian media, Good’s family described her as “a beautiful mother, daughter, sister, partner, friend, all round outstanding human and so much more.”
“To the two men who held and cared for our baby when Ashlee could not — words cannot express our gratitude” the statement said.
The baby was said to be recovering well after lengthy surgery.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday said Australians were struggling to understand an “unspeakable” attack that is “really just beyond comprehension.”
“We also see the footage of ordinary Australians putting themselves in harm’s way in order to help their fellow citizens,” he said. “That bravery was quite extraordinary ... the best of Australians amidst this extraordinary tragedy.”
Albanese singled out the “wonderful” police inspector — named in local media as Amy Scott — who shot the offender.
She “ran into danger by herself and removed the threat that was there to others without thinking about the risks to herself,” he said.
A witness at the scene told Australian Broadcasting Corp he saw the shooting.
“All I heard was: ‘Put it down,’ and then she shot him,” he said. “If she didn’t shoot him, well he would have kept going. He was on the rampage. He was on the bloody rampage. And then she walked over and was giving him CPR.”
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