(ProsperNews.net) – A knifeman murdered six people at a Sydney shopping mall before police shot him dead. Joel Cauchi went on a rampage at the Bondi Junction shopping center in the Australian city on April 13, killing six and injuring several others. The 40-year-old murdered five women and one man, and police have since speculated that his possible motive was to punish women for his lack of romantic success. Among the injured was a nine-month-old girl, and one of the dead was a young mother holding her baby.
While the horrifying incident unfolded, police officer Amy Scott patrolled nearby and attended the scene. Encountering Cauchi, she told him to place his knife on the floor and, when he refused, shot him twice in the chest. The officer attempted life-saving measures, but the suspect died at the scene.
Fielding questions about the killer’s motive, police commissioner Karen Webb said video footage speaks for itself. She noted that Cauchi had “focused on women and avoided the men.”
Police officers subsequently spoke with the killer’s family and discovered he suffered from severe mental illness. His father, Andrew, said he was a “very sick boy,” and his family had done all it could to help him.
Australian law enforcement agencies were quick to declare that the killings were not considered a terrorist act, but just two days later, Sydney faced a second incident, which officials immediately denounced as terrorism.
In the suburb of Wakeley on Monday, April 15, a teenager took a knife into the Assyrian Christ The Good Shepherd Church and stabbed a priest and a bishop. The live-streamed service appeared to show the 16-year-old suspect approach the altar and launch at the bishop, stabbing him several times in the head and face.
Riot police were called to quell ensuing unrest as angry crowds gathered outside. New South Wales Premier Chris Minns later convened a meeting of Sydney’s senior religious figures, asking them to appeal for calm and unity.
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