Queensland man Joel Cauchi has been named by police as the attacker who stabbed six people to death and seriously wounded 12 others including an infant at the Westfield shopping centre in Sydney’s Bondi Junction.
Police believe Cauchi, 40, had mental health problems and that he had moved to New South Wales only a month before he took a knife into the crowded mall on Saturday afternoon and went on an unprovoked stabbing spree.
Guardian Australia understands Cauchi did not have a fixed address in Sydney and that police do not believe he knew any of his victims.
A NSW police assistant commissioner, Anthony Cooke, disclosed Cauchi’s identity at a press conference on Sunday morning.
“We are continuing to work through the profiling of the offender but very clearly to us at this stage it will appear related to the mental health of the individual,” Cooke said.
“There is still to this point nothing – no information we have received, no evidence we’ve recovered, no intelligence that we have gathered – that would suggest that this was driven by any particular motivation, ideology or otherwise.”
Cauchi had moved from the Brisbane area and rented a “very small” storage unit in Sydney which police searched overnight, Cooke said.
Cooke would not say what police found in the unit, which Guardian Australia understands was only about 1 cubic square metre in size.
Cauchi killed five women and one man. Asked if police had any information to suggest he targeted women, Cooke said detectives would “canvass all possibilities”.
“I don’t know that to be the case at this stage,” he said. “Very clearly, those matters will be part of the investigation.”
The Queensland police assistant commissioner, Roger Lowe, said Cauchi had not been prosecuted or charged with any offence in Queensland, including domestic violence.
“There are no [domestic violence] orders in place,” Lowe told reporters on Sunday.
It is believed Cauchi had an interest in knives. Lowe confirmed QPS were investigating an incident in early 2023 in which Cauchi reportedly called police after his family took away his knives.
“This gentleman was diagnosed with a mental illness at the age of 17 and has had treatment over the years,” Lowe said. “From our investigations… just in the last number of years, his mental health has declined.”
Cauchi’s family only had periodic contact with their son and contacted the police after seeing footage of the incident, according to Lowe.
“The family… are issuing a statement on their behalf with respect to their own condolences and thoughts to the family and friends of those victims involved in this tragedy.”
“Equally they have sent a message to the NSW police force with respect to support of the police officer who has killed their son and expressing their concerns for her welfare.”
Cauchi was shot dead at the shopping centre by a police officer after he allegedly lunged at her with the knife. He was treated by paramedics but died at the scene.
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Insp Amy Scott was conducting routine duties nearby when she was directed to go to the shopping centre by reports a man was using a “massive” knife to stab shoppers.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said Scott was a hero who “no doubt” saved lives.
Police believe Cauchi’s female victims were aged between 20 and 55 and the man was aged in his 30s. All of them died at the shopping centre where they were stabbed.
Two of the victims were from overseas and police had not been able to get in contact with their families as of Sunday morning.
Nor had any of the victims had been formally identified. One of the women killed was widely named by Australian media as Dr Ashlee Good, who was shopping with her nine-month-old daughter when Cauchi attacked them both.
The infant was in the intensive care unit at Sydney’s Royal Children’s hospital on Sunday after undergoing emergency surgery overnight. Eleven other people injured in the attack were being treated at hospitals across Sydney.
Good, 38, died after trying to save her baby. Her family said on Sunday they were “reeling from the terrible loss”.
In a statement, the family confirmed the baby girl’s condition had improved.
They described Good 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,” they said.
A fundraiser set up to support Good’s family had raised more than $14,000 by late Sunday morning.
Police have asked anyone who was at the shopping centre on Saturday or who had any other information to contact crime stoppers.
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