NSW Police investigate attacker who fatally stabbed six people at Sydney’s Westfield Bondi Junction
Detectives are investigating the life and background of 40-year-old Joel Cauchi, who killed six people during a stabbing attack at a busy Sydney shopping centre yesterday, as fresh details of the mass murder emerge.
NSW Police said the man from Queensland was shot dead by a senior police officer inside Westfield Bondi Junction on Saturday afternoon, after setting upon several people inside the complex with a knife and triggering an evacuation.
Six people were killed, including four women and one man who was a security guard. They all died inside the centre.
A fifth woman, identified as 38-year-old Ashlee Good, died in hospital from her injuries.
Her nine-month-old daughter was also attacked and remains in hospital.
“Today we are reeling from the terrible loss of Ashlee, a beautiful mother, daughter, sister, partner, friend, all round outstanding human and so much more,” her family said in a statement.
The family have also thanked the two men who “held and cared for our baby when Ashlee could not”, saying “words cannot express our gratitude”, and the NSW police and emergency services for their assistance and kindness.
Two of the victims had no family in Australia and authorities were trying to contact their families.
Eleven injured people, including Ms Good’s baby who has since undergone surgery, remained in Sydney hospitals, Health Minister Ryan Park said.
Three people presented to hospitals for injuries overnight.
The patients are being treated at St Vincent’s Hospital, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Prince of Wales Hospital and St George Hospital, where four are in intensive care units (ICU), one is critical but stable, one is serious but stable, one is critical and seven are stable.
Ms Good’s baby is at Sydney Children’s Hospital and is in ICU in a serious but stable condition.
Warning: Some readers may find the following details of the attack, witness accounts and footage of the incident distressing.
Assistant Commissioner Anthony Cooke said Cauchi recently came to Sydney from Queensland and he had hired a “very small” storage facility, which investigating officers had now accessed.
“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,” Assistant Commissioner Cooke said.
“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.”
Queensland Police Assistant Commissioner Roger Lowe said Cauchi has never been arrested by police or charged with an offence but had come into contact with police in recent years when his mental health declined.
ABC
