A man was shot dead after going on a deadly stabbing spree at Westfield shopping centre in the Sydney suburb of Bondi Junction on Saturday. The attacker was chased by a lone police officer who was on duty on an unrelated matter. Six people have been killed and numerous others injured, including some in a critical condition. The injured include a nine-month-old baby. Sydney stabbing: seven people dead, including attacker shot by police at Bondi Junction shopping centre Bondi Junction stabbing attack – what we know so far
Dark past of a killer, and the bright lives he took too soon
Joel Cauchi was a drifter. He slept in his car, wandered between cities, lost touch with his family. Since his teenage years, he had lived with complex mental health issues. His erratic behaviour was evident to those who encountered him, including police and health authorities.
But there is no formal record of violence in Cauchi’s history, police say; he was never even arrested. Nothing revealed about his life so far could have flagged that he would decide, one Saturday afternoon, to enter a crowded shopping centre, withdraw a knife from his backpack, and begin to stab passerby.
Westfield Bondi Junction closed yesterday as police combed the crime scene, piecing together the final movements of Cauchi, whose killing spree – with what onlookers described as a 30cm hunting knife – ended when he was hot by NSW Police Inspector Amy Scott.
Investigators say there is no evidence to suggest any ideology behind Queensland-born Cauchi’s killing spree. One line of inquiry is why so many of his victims – five out of six dead, and most of the injured – were women.
