Knife attack in Sydney: Perpetrator apparently targeted women

According to investigators’ latest findings, the perpetrator who killed six people and injured several others in a popular shopping center on Saturday appeared to have “focused on women and avoided men” in his attack, said New South Wales Police Commissioner Karen Webb , on Monday on ABC television. The reason for this assumption, on which the investigation now focused, were recordings of the attack. Surveillance videos showed the attacker running through the mall with a long knife, chasing mostly female victims. The videos “speak for themselves,” Webb said.

• More on the topic: Knife attacker killed six people in Sydney shopping center

In order to gain further knowledge, it is now important that the investigators question the people in the perpetrator’s circle of acquaintances in detail.

6 dead, several injured

The man killed six people and injured several others on Saturday afternoon in the busy Westfield Bondi Junction shopping center in the east of the Australian metropolis before he was shot by a police officer. According to Police Chief Webb, the fatalities were five women and one man.

According to recent reports, a Chinese student was among the victims. The young woman is the last of the victims to be identified after Saturday’s attack.

Mother gave baby to passers-by before being stabbed

Twelve people were also taken to hospital, including a baby. According to media reports, the mother handed her nine-month-old baby to a passerby before she was stabbed herself. The baby required emergency surgery and was in a “serious but stable condition,” according to police.

• Also read: Knife attack in Sydney: Police do not assume a terrorist motive

The man killed by the attacker was a 30-year-old from Pakistan who worked as a security guard, representatives of the Pakistani community said. Police later identified the perpetrator as 40-year-old Joel Cauchi. He was known to the authorities and suffered from mental illness.

Officials ruled out a terrorist background. So far there is “nothing” that points to an “ideology” as the motivation for his bloody deed, it was said.