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Post by Admin on Apr 13, 2024 12:17:47 GMT
Seven people are dead, and others are in serious or critical condition after a stabbing rampage in a mall in Sydney, Australia, on Saturday, according to police. The attacker, who was shot by a lone officer, was among the dead, and a baby among those stabbed.
New South Wales Police Commissioner Anthony Cooke told a news conference that the attacker walked into the Westfield Bondi Junction mall at about 3:20 p.m. local time (1:20 a.m. ET) where he “caused harm” to about nine people “stabbing them with a weapon he was carrying.” The weapon “was most likely a knife,” he said.
A spokesperson for New South Wales Ambulance told NBC News that a nine-month-old baby was “transported to Sydney Children’s Hospital with a pediatric stab wound.”
Cooke said that an inspector near the scene was guided to the offender’s location by members of the public. As she pursued him from behind, Cooke said the offender turned and the officer shot him.
“She took the action, saving a range of people’s lives,” he added.
He said the offender's motives were not clear, but he acted alone and that there was no continuing threat.
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Post by Admin on Apr 13, 2024 15:19:04 GMT
SYDNEY (AP) — A man stabbed six people to death at a busy Sydney shopping center Saturday before he was fatally shot, police said, with hundreds fleeing the chaotic scene, many weeping as they carried their children. Eight people, including a 9-month-old, were injured.
New South Wales police said they believed a 40-year-old man was responsible for the Saturday afternoon attack at the Westfield Shopping Centre in Bondi Junction, in the city’s eastern suburbs. They said they were not able to name him until a formal identification had taken place but that they weren't currently treating the attack as terrorism-related.
The man was shot dead by a female police inspector after he turned and raised a knife, New South Wales Assistant Police Commissioner Anthony Cooke told reporters.
“This all happened very, very quickly — the officer that was in the vicinity attended on her own, was guided to the location of the offender by people who were in the center," he said. “She took the actions that she did saving a range of people’s lives."
The stabbing at the shopping center, which was a hub of activity on a particularly warm fall afternoon, began around 3:10 p.m. and police were called soon after.
“They just said run, run, run — someone’s been stabbed,” one witness told ABC TV in Australia. ”(The attacker) was walking really calmly like he was having an ice cream in a park. And then he went up the escalators ... and probably within about a minute we heard three gunshots.”
Six of the victims — five women and a man — and the suspect died. Commissioner Karen Webb said the eight injured people were being treated at hospitals. The baby was in surgery, but it was too early to know the condition, she said.
“We are confident that there is no ongoing risk, and we are dealing with one person who is now deceased,” Webb said in a later briefing. She added: "It’s not a terrorism incident.”
Witnesses were shocked at the rare outburst of violence. Australia enacted strict gun laws after a man killed 35 and wounded another 23 in 1996, in Tasmania.
“I saw all the people running and I didn’t know what was happening," said Ayush Singh. “I thought it was some people playing a prank or something and after some time I saw a guy with a knife running from the footpath to the cafe where I work.”
He said police arrived quickly and told everyone to stay put.
Singh said he saw the man running just meters (yards) away as he wielded a knife. “I didn’t hear him say anything,” he added. "Just a random guy stabbing people. Mad guy.”
Roi Huberman, a sound engineer at ABC TV in Australia, told the network that he sheltered in a store during the incident.
“And suddenly we heard a shot or maybe two shots and we didn’t know what to do,” he said. “Then the very capable person in the store took us to the back where it can be locked. She then locked the store and then she then let us through the back and now we are out.”
As the attack unfolded, panicked individuals streamed out of the shopping center, many with children in their arms. Paramedics treated injured people at the scene. The shopping center and the surrounding area remains in lockdown as police piece together what went on.
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Post by Admin on Apr 14, 2024 1:40:27 GMT
The man who stabbed six people to death at Sydney’s Westfield Bondi Junction has been identified as a 40-year-old from Queensland. He has been revealed by police as being 40-year-old Joel Cauchi, who is believed to have previously lived in the Brisbane area.  Cauchi was seen wearing a Kangaroos outfit as he attacked at least 17 people at the busy shopping centre in Sydney’s east about 3.30pm on Saturday afternoon. Police say he came to NSW about one month ago and shortly after coming to Sydney, he took possession of a storage facility. Cauchi’s social media posts suggest he had been in Sydney for several months and feature him reaching out for people to come surfing with him at Bondi Beach. He states to have gone to Harristown State High School in Toowoomba and worked as an English tutor at an online institution. |
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Post by Admin on Apr 14, 2024 13:06:35 GMT
Six people — five women and one man, aged between 20 and 55 — were killed in the attack. Another 12 were injured and remain in hospital, including a 9-month-old child whose mother was killed in the attack.
The male victim was a security guard at the shopping center and was later identified as 30-year-old Faraz Tahir from Pakistan.
According to a written statement Sunday from the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Australia, Faraz had been in Australia for a less than a year and was a “cherished member of our community.”
Video footage taken by a witness showed many people fleeing as a knife-wielding Cauchi ran erratically through the shopping mall and lunging at people.
“When I took my footage it, was about 15 seconds maybe before he was shot by the police officer and he’d already killed a number of people at that point but we didn’t know and we had no idea what was going on,” said Rohan Anderson, who had entered the shopping center just moments before the attack. "We just saw a person on the level below us, with a knife, running around and you just sit in disbelief that this is happening in Australia, in Bondi,” he said.
Other footage showed a man confronting the attacker on an escalator in the shopping center by holding what appeared to be a metal pole.
Inspector Amy Scott, who was the first emergency responder on the scene, shot and killed Cauchi.
Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the officer was “certainly a hero” whose actions had saved many more lives.
“The wonderful inspector who ran into danger by herself and removed the threat that was there to others, without thinking about the risks to herself,” he said.
“We also see the footage of ordinary Australians putting themselves in harm’s way in order to help their fellow citizens. That bravery was quite extraordinary that we saw yesterday,” he added.
In a written statement later Sunday, Cauchi’s family said they were devastated by Saturday’s events and they had “no issue” with Scott shooting their son, saying "she was only doing her job to protect others”.
“Joel’s actions were truly horrific, and we are still trying to comprehend what has happened,” the statement read. “He has battled with mental health issues since he was a teenager.”
Throughout Sunday, people placed a large number of floral tributes for the victims outside the now-shuttered shopping center. Police say it will remain an active crime scene for days.
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Post by Admin on Apr 15, 2024 5:16:30 GMT
SYDNEY, April 15 (Reuters) - Australian police said on Monday the attacker who fatally stabbed six people at a busy shopping centre in Sydney's beach suburb of Bondi may have targeted women, as the country mourned the victims and hundreds of people laid flowers near the scene.
In the attack on Saturday at the Westfield Bondi Junction mall, five of the six people killed and the majority of the 12 injured were women.
"It's obvious to me, it's obvious to detectives that seems to be an area of interest that the offender had focused on women and avoided the men," New South Wales state Police Commissioner Karen Webb told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
"The videos speak for themselves, don't they? That's certainly a line for inquiry for us."
Witnesses described how attacker Joel Cauchi, 40, wearing shorts and an Australian national rugby league jersey, ran through the mall with a knife. He was killed by Inspector Amy Scott, who confronted him solo while he was on the rampage.
Police have said Cauchi had mental health issues in the past and there was no indication ideology was a motive.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said "the gender breakdown ... was concerning" when asked on ABC Radio if it was a gender-motivated attack.
The only man who was killed during the attack was a 30-year-old security guard at the mall, Faraz Tahir, who arrived in Australia last year as a refugee from Pakistan, according to a statement from the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Australia, to which he belonged.
The New South Wales government said it would give A$18 million ($12 million) for an independent coronial inquest into the attack but Premier Chris Minns ruled out any change in rules that would allow private security guards to carry firearms.
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