Knife attack in Sydney [scroll down for UPDATE]
A man only identified so far as a 40-year-old killed 6 people and injured eight others in a knife attack in a Sydney mall:
The man stabbed shoppers as he moved through the shopping centre – including a mother and her nine-month-old baby.
– Video footage appears to show a shopper confronting the attacker on an escalator in the centre by holding a bollard [see this] towards him.
– Emergency services were called to Westfield Bondi Junction at around 3.30pm, following reports that multiple people had been stabbed.
– A female police officer who was nearby went into the centre alone and approached the attacker who had by this point moved to level five of the shopping centre.
– The officer shot the attacker after he turned to face her, raised a knife and lunged at her.
– The officer conducted CPR on the attacker until the arrival of paramedics, who worked on the man; however, he could not be revived.
Knives can be very very deadly, and of course just about everyone possesses one. Five of the six dead are women; I don’t know how many of the injured are women. Did the killer target women, or is it just that most of the mall shoppers were women?
In addition, we have this statement:
Police did confirm the attacker acted alone and was known to them. They also said that they do not believe his motive was related to terrorism.
“If it is the person we believe it is, we don’t have fear for that person holding an ideation,” Webb said.
“In other words, that it’s not a terrorism incident.
“We believe that this person acted alone and there’s no ongoing threat to the community.”
I’ll believe it when you tell me more about the attacker – his name and his history, for starters. He could be a random crazy. Or he could indeed be a terrorist, although a free-lancer.
The baby is in critical condition; the mother has died. Absolutely horrific.
The police officer who shot the killer is reported to have been at the mall on an unrelated matter. It’s a good thing she was there, because the death toll almost undoubtedly would have been higher if she hadn’t been already on the scene.
It might have been lower, however, if some of the regular shoppers had been armed, or if the assailant had the notion that they might be. Gun laws in Australia are quite strict:
In the last two decades of the 20th century, following several high-profile killing sprees, the federal government coordinated more restrictive firearms legislation with all state governments.
Gun laws were largely aligned in 1996 by the National Firearms Agreement. In two federally funded gun buybacks and voluntary surrenders and State Governments’ gun amnesties before and after the Port Arthur Massacre, more than a million firearms were collected and destroyed, possibly a third of the national stock.[1]
A person must have a firearm licence to possess or use a firearm. Licence holders must demonstrate a “genuine reason” (which does not include self-defence) for holding a firearm licence[2] and must not be a “prohibited person”. All firearms must be registered by serial number to the owner.
In December 2023 National Cabinet agreed to implement a national firearms register within four years.
None of the articles I’ve seen mention whether the mall was a gun-free zone.
RIP to the victims.
UPDATE: Random crazed killer it is: the perp had a history of mental illness (schizophrenia) and obsession with weapons, especially knives.
We now have pretty good drugs for schizophrenia, but it’s not unusual for patients to make a decision to go off them without telling anyone. It’s possible that happened in this case, although that’s a total guess on my part.
Five women were killed and the sole male victim is said to have been a security guard. This makes me wonder once again whether the killer was targeting women.
And now, just a couple of minutes after writing the above paragraph, I read this:
Chilling footage showed Cauchi ignore a man who had bravely attempted to confront him during the attack.
Speculation has been raised the knifeman had been targetting women.
Today show host Karl Stefanovic said he had ‘no words’.
‘I don’t care what the excuses are, and I hope there’s a special place in hell reserved for him, given the fact that he walked past men, and didn’t do anything about it and attacked women,’ he said.
‘A woman with a baby.’
Seems to be young women he was intent on attacking – plus the baby. I haven’t read anything describing the victims who survived (they are now reported to number 12), and whether they were young women, too. One of the murder victims was Dawn Singleton, 25, the daughter of a wealthy businessman. She was engaged to marry her childhood sweetheart.
All of Australia, for all practical purposes, is a “Gun Free Zone.”
https://twitter.com/StopAntisemites/status/1779231060825399460?t=xvCFeq8ycslqK-sYKbCJKQ&s=19
It could be that the knifeman was “known to the police” for mental illness. Probably the identification and background will emerge today. It’s morning in eastern Australia.
Someone Else is correct.
Owning a firearm in Oz is an onerous proposition.
Sydney has been boiling with anti-Israel protests and the large Muslim population there almost certainly suggests the murderer was part of those mobs…may have enjoyed a brief stint in lockup because of that. Also appears he targeted vulnerable people… backed away from a few men to pursue women and or elderly…so local reports say today.
The sad tale of the real life… and death of “Crocodile Dundee”.
https://allthatsinteresting.com/rod-ansell
I’m never defenseless. My cane isn’t a great weapon but it’s better than nothing. Y9ou have to jab and jab to set up the strike
John Guilfoyle, I remember video of protesters, following Oct. 7, in Sydney chanting, “Gas the Jews.” Horrifying people.
Mass stabbing sprees happen a lot in China. The government usually manages to keep the news from hitting the international press. But occasionally word gets out despite the government censorship.
But really I’ll just do what I’ve always done. I’ve lived a good while until my sixties. Have to check my driver’s license for the exact date because I’m freaking sixty plus. Give me a break.
Not noted or likely known by non-Oz media… Bondi Junction is high dollar shopping and mega-touristy. Almost always crowded.
So there were few (a blessed few) aware and readily able to fight back. Thank God for those few or it could have been worse.
After fifty birthdays lose meaning
John I’m just trying to get home. After what New York has done to the Marine who was just trying to help his fellow subway riders I stick my neck put for no one. This is apparently a deliberate strategy but I need to figure it out
There’s a black guy in London who raped several women on there subway. They ask where are the men. If you want be called a racist which is now the worst crime worse than rape stand up for her
I’ll do it. But I know the price. I realize I just said the opposite but I can’t stand by and watch
See Ann Coulter’s law. The longer they delay the release of his name, the more probable it is that the attacker is from a protected class.
The killer is now identified by NSW police as Joel Cauchi, originally from Queensland. Some history of mental illness. He had a storage facility which they are working through. So far no indication of an Islamic background, but it’s early.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/live/article-13305455/Bondi-Sydney-stabbing-Westfield-shopping-centre.html
I should have read my own link farther down. They say schizophrenia.
One can find, in sporting goods stores, or hardware stores, small folding knives,
jack knives.
You may recall in the olden times, there was a groove on the back of the blade for the thumbnail to grip in order to open the thing.
Most are better now. There are a number of models–different shapes, colors, so forth, all casual and none screaming TACTICAL–which have small, flat-top knobs on the blade right at the hinge. This provides leverage to open the thing one handed, and with some practice, shove the lock-back out of the way and close it with one hand. Useful, because when you want to get a knife to cut something, you usually have whatever it is in the other hand. So…one-handed is good, right?
Actually connected; decades ago I saw a couple of studies which said that nobody can ignore a sharp edge. A spear six feet from you will get the juices running harder than a gun, which after all is just a complicated piece of plumbing. The presumption is that we and our ancestors have been dealing with sharp edges for half a million years. And edges from metamorphic rock–flint, obsidian, so forth, are SHARP. So we can’t, in a manner of speaking, ignore the threat.
So, to Sydney and a guy with a knife. Even a three-inch blade six feet away from the guy can’t be entirely ignored. You don’t have to mix it up with him to cause him some hesitation going someplace, and you can retreat and retreat, and…he must instinctively honor the threat. Can’t not. At least looking over his shoulder from time to time.
So it messes up his plan, might buy some time for somebody armed to show up, or potential victims to escape, and maybe you get away with it.
Meantime, from one decade to the next, it’s the handiest thing you can carry outside of a credit card and it doesn’t take up much more room than a key ring.
They have trained Aussie men to be pussies. Don’t make waves, wait for police. The video I saw showed the killer dodging one man who faced him. But the man didn’t follow the killer. The man had a backpack. Against a knife, that’s a weapon and not a bad one, either.
I’m reminded of the Canadian massacre at the university, a big lecture hall. Killer walks in with a rifle. Orders all the men to leave, And They Do. Then the killer just starts shooting the helpless women. Don’t make waves. Wait for police.
Worked so well on 9/11, eh? People don’t realize there hasn’t been a successful hijacking on a US aircraft since. A couple tried, and got the crap beaten out of them. Hijackers know that. So they don’t.
I still do work in retail stores. Yesterday I (helped) chase a shoplifter out of a CVS. Now the staff aren’t supposed to do anything, but this is Arizona, and screw that. Me, I don’t work for the store so I’m not subject to their rules. And if I get fired from my job, oh well. There’s lots of jobs.
Am I endangering myself? Sure! But I’m 63, and the people dependent on me are covered by my life insurance. A bit more “I’m just not going to stand for that shit,” will solve a lot of our problems. Because the courts won’t.
I can hear the pols now: “We don’t need vigilantes roaming around.” Evidently we do, loser.
SerpentZA, the famous YouTuber who was originally posting from China until the government became increasinly anti foreign influence, has posted on the phenomenon of mass murder knife attacks in China.
Unreported, they typically target school children and are carried out, he says, by angry males lashing out at what they feel is a rigged and corrupt system, and who decide to strike at the very existence of the community and its most cherished members.
Junior, yes the government in China tries to cover up the news of mass stabbings. Because often, not always but often, the targets aren’t chosen at random. The mass murderer is targeting the families of the party elites. They can’t get to the officials so they go after their relatives, often their children. I’m not defending the murder of children by any means. But the Chinese government operates the same way. It’s a case of reaping what you sow. Naturally they don’t want that advertised.
Richard Aubrey… carrying most pocket knives in Oz is also pretty much Verboten.
I’m not sure it’s as bad as Gordon says but his experience may be different from mine too.
Care for the mentally ill is a whole nother kettle of fish.
I should have read my own link farther down. They say schizophrenia.
==
In a sane world, unless his counsel can demonstrate that he thought he was stabbing poltergeists or people plotting to kill him, that would be of scant consequence. This man killed six people. He should be facing a firing squad, and the trial and appeals should not take more than five years.
The government, and I include the police, are idiots in australia.
John+Guilfoyle,
The knives I have in mind have blades maybe three inches long. Not talking about the big combat items.
Knife laws are really complex, and in many cases where concealed carry of pistols is okay, knives are restricted. Laws come and go….”gravity knife” vs. “switch blade”. So forth.
As I say, the point is to get the perp’s attention and to do so possibly without being in range of his blade. Or if he has something else like a bat. The studies I read show flinching as a reflex, not something learned or feared. So, at least, slow down whatever his plan was until help arrives.
Or threaten high and kick low. Might get away with it. Losers of knife fights to to the morgue, winners to ER.
Well and now it’s been reported that a bishop has been attacked with a knife during a mass. They’re Assyrian Orthodox and were chanting ‘an eye for an eye’. This too in Australia.