THE knifeman who stabbed to death six people in a frenzied attack at a Sydney mall has been named as 40-year-old Joel Cauchi.
The attacker, from Queensland, terrorised the busy shopping centre when he stabbed nine people, including a nine-month-old baby on Saturday.
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New South Wales Police Assistant Commissioner Anthony Cooke said the man is believed to have come to New South Wales last month.
The police have spoken to his family, who are co-operating with the investigation.
He added: “As I had said last night, there is still to this point nothing that we have, no information we have received, no evidence we have recovered, no intelligence that we have gathered that would suggest that this was driven by any particular motivation, ideology or otherwise.
“We know that the offender in the matter suffers from mental health.
“We are continuing to work through the profiling of the offender but very clearly to us at this stage it would appear that this is related to the mental health of the individual involved.”
The male attacker had dark hair and a beard.
He was seen wearing a Kangaroos outfit as he rampaged through the mall attacking at least 18 people with a large knife.
He came to NSW about one month ago and shortly after coming to Sydney, he took possession of a storage facility which police are now searching.
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Assistant Commissioner Cooke said officers would continue combing through the shopping centre today while also looking for any vehicles linked to the incident.
“This was a very broad incident. There’s a lot of footage already out in the media depicting some of what has occurred.
“So people would understand this is a large crime scene. We need to deal with each and every aspect of that crime scene,” he said.
Cauchi was shot dead by “hero” police officer Amy Scott after he stabbed nine people including a baby in a pram.
The mother of the injured tot, Dr Ash Good, was also stabbed and died trying to protect her child.
The baby was rushed to hospital in a critical condition last night for emergency surgery.
Police provided an update on her this morning.
“We understand baby Harriet stabilising this morning. We understand that she underwent surgery and she remains in a serious but stable condition,” they said.
Two men told of how they helped Dr Good and baby Harriet who had both been stabbed, pressing shirts to the infant’s wounds in an attempt to stop the bleeding.
The barbaric attacker had stabbed the tot as she lay in the pram before turning his knife on her horrified mum.
First-time mum Dr Ash Good, 38, threw her injured baby to the brothers out of sheer desperation.
Dr Good, a trained osteopath, was walking through the shopping centre when the attacker stabbed her baby while in her pram, before using the weapon on her, the Australian Telegraph reports.
Friend Laura Jayes told Sky News that Dr Good was a “beautiful person, a wonderful athlete”.
Ms Jayes said: She was so excited to be a new mother and it’s all just been ripped away. She saved her baby tonight.”
Hours before the attack, Dr Good shared a video of her daughter sitting in a car seat with her face in the sun to social media, as the song Mr Girl by The Temptations played in the background.
Dramatic video showed the cop bravely sprint across the top level of the shopping center bravely chasing the assailant.
She was followed by two civilians hot on her heels, including one who was carrying a chair.
The inspector, who happened to be nearby when the attack happened, fired a volley of shots after the assailant turned on her and raised a knife.
She was then seen performing CPR on victims of the knife attack, as well as on the suspect, as she waited for backup to arrive and assist.
New South Wales Police Commissioner Karen Webb commended the inspector’s efforts, telling reporters on Saturday: “She showed enormous courage and bravery, and she will process obviously that.”
A man named Jason Dockson said he followed Insp Scott through the shopping centre as she sprinted after the attacker, who was armed with a “big blade”.
He said: “If she didn’t shoot him, well, he would have kept going.
“He was on a rampage,” Kossyderrickent reports.
Witnesses who were shopping in Lululemon told how they heard screaming before seeing the attacker “indiscriminately swiping” at people as he calmly walked along the corridors.
Amid the horror, shoppers provided make-shift medical aid to stabbing victims as others attempted to stop the knifeman.
One brave civilian came face to face with the assailant as he prowled the halls for his next victim.
Video showed the knifeman walking up an escalator toward a man holding a pole; the civilian appeared to be acting as a human shield, preventing the assailant from accessing the higher level.
NINE PEOPLE STABBED
Police tonight identified the attacker as oel Cauchi, 40.
He was known to law enforcement and they do not believe he held “an ideation” – meaning it is likely not a terrorism incident.
Eight patients were rushed to various hospital facilities across Sydney – their conditions ranging from serious to critical – and six other injured people were assessed by NSW paramedics at the scene.
Earlier, NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Anthony Cook said that the knifeman had “engaged with” nine people in the centre.
He said on Saturday: “About 3.10 this afternoon a male walked into a restaurant at Bondi Junction, he left the centre and then returned about 3.20.
“As he moved to the centre, he engaged with about nine people, and it’s clear that during that engagement he caused harm to those people, we believe by stabbing them with a weapon he was carrying.”
He said the man was shot after he raised a knife at a senior police officer, who reports suggest is the brave Inspector Amy Scott.
Cook explained: “She (the inspector) confronted the offender who had moved by this stage to level five, as she continued to walk quickly behind him to catch up with him.
“He turned, faced her, raised a knife. She discharged a firearm and that person is now deceased.”
Key moments in Sydney stabbing tragedy
- Knifeman stabs nine people, including a nine-month-old baby
- Mum throws injured baby to nearby men in final act of love
- Five women and one man confirmed dead
- Assailant shot and killed after raising knife at inspector
- Cops say attack is not thought to be terror-related
- Baby among eight victims in serious to critical condition
- Attacker, 40, is known to law enforcement
- First-time mum Dr Ash Good named as one of six victims killed
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the senior police officer a “hero”.
He said: “There is no doubt she saved lives through her action and it is a reminder that those people who wear uniform are people who rush to danger, not away from it and I give thanks to every one of them for the actions they have taken up to now.”
The number of people killed by the knifeman rose to six about 8pm local time on Saturday.
Four women and one man were killed in the shopping centre; Dr Ash Good was rushed to St Vincent’s hospital in a critical condition but died soon after arriving.
Video showed crowds fleeing the busy mall – located in Sydney’s affluent eastern suburbs, just a five-minute drive from Bondi Beach – as police officers rushed to the scene about 3.45pm.
Outside the shopping centre, two men told 9News about how they helped mum Dr Ash Good and her baby girl, who were both bleeding.
The brothers said they saw a man “run up to the woman with the baby.”
One of the men said: “We got them into the store … rang for help.”
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Source: Sun
