Police have identified the man they say stabbed six people to death in a busy Sydney shopping center before being shot dead by a police officer.
New South Wales police said on Sunday that 40-year-old Joel Cauchi was responsible for the attack at the Westfield Shopping Center in Bondi Junction on Saturday afternoon. The shopping center is located in the city’s eastern suburbs, not far from the world-famous Bondi Beach.
NSW Assistant Police Commissioner Anthony Cook told reporters at a media conference on Sunday that Couch suffered from unspecified mental health issues and police investigators were not treating the attack as terrorism-related.
“We are continuing to profile the offender but at this stage it is clear to us that this appears to be related to the mental health of the individual involved,” Cook said.
He added: “To date, we still have received no information, found no evidence, and gathered no intelligence to suggest that this was driven by any specific motive (ideological or otherwise).”
The mall, one of the busiest in the country and the center of activity on a particularly warm fall afternoon, happened around 3:10 p.m. and police were called shortly after the attack.
The attack killed six people (five women and one man) and injured 12 others, including a 9-month-old child whose mother died in the attack.
Cook said on Sunday two of the six victims were from overseas and had no family in Australia.
Video shared online appeared to show many people fleeing as a knife-wielding Couch walked through the mall and lunged at people.
Other videos showed a man confronting the attacker on a shopping mall escalator, holding what appeared to be a pole towards the attacker.
Couch was shot and killed by a lone policewoman at the scene.
NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said the officer behaved well in the circumstances and would be interviewed on Sunday.
“She showed tremendous courage and bravery,” Weber said, adding that the same was also shown by other responding police officers, civilians and staff at the center. “This is a terrible situation … but it could be worse.”
Police said the mall remained closed Sunday and would be an active crime scene for days.
