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THE knifeman who stabbed to death six people in a frenzied attack at a Sydney mall has been named as 40-year-old Joel Cauchi.
The attacker, from Queensland, terrorised the busy shopping centre when he stabbed nine people, including a nine-month-old baby on Saturday.
“Hero” cop, named locally as Inspector Amy Scott of Sydney’s Rose Bay Police Station, single-handedly confronted the knifeman and shot him dead.
A man named Jason Dockson said he followed Insp Scott through the shopping centre as she sprinted after the attacker, who was armed with a “big blade”.
The mother of the injured tot, Dr Ash Good, 38, was also stabbed and died trying to protect her child.
The baby was rushed to hospital in a critical condition last night for emergency surgery.
Police provided an update on her yesterday.
“We understand baby Harriet stabilising this morning. We understand that she underwent surgery and she remains in a serious but stable condition,” they said.
Dr Good’s family paid tribute to a “beautiful” and “outstanding human” on Sunday.
Meanwhile, a quick-thinking dad was praised for covering his two children’s eyes with masks as they passed the scene.
New South Wales Police Assistant Commissioner Anthony Cooke said Cauchi is believed to have arrived in New South Wales last month.
The police have spoken to his family, who are co-operating with the investigation.
He added: “As I had said last night, there is still to this point nothing that we have, no information we have received, no evidence we have recovered, no intelligence that we have gathered that would suggest that this was driven by any particular motivation, ideology or otherwise.
“We know that the offender in the matter suffers from mental health.
“We are continuing to work through the profiling of the offender but very clearly to us at this stage it would appear that this is related to the mental health of the individual involved.”
Cauchi, who had dark hair and a beard, was seen wearing a Kangaroos outfit as he rampaged through the mall attacking at least 18 people with a large knife.
Shortly after coming to Sydney Cauchi took possession of a storage facility which police are now searching.
Assistant Commissioner Cooke said officers would continue combing through the shopping centre today while also looking for any vehicles linked to the incident.
“This was a very broad incident. There’s a lot of footage already out in the media depicting some of what has occurred.
“So people would understand this is a large crime scene. We need to deal with each and every aspect of that crime scene,” he said.
Two brothers told told 9News of how they helped Dr Good and baby Harriet who had both been stabbed, pressing shirts to their wounds in an attempt to stop the bleeding.
The barbaric attacker had stabbed the tot as she lay in the pram before turning his knife on her horrified mum.
The brothers said they saw a man “run up to the woman with the baby.”
One of the men said: “We got them into the store and rang for help.”
Dr Good, 38, threw her injured child to the men out of sheer desperation.
Dr Good, a trained osteopath, was walking through the shopping centre when the attacker stabbed her baby while in her pram, before using the weapon on her, the Australian Telegraph reports.
Friend Laura Jayes told Sky News that Dr Good was a “beautiful person, a wonderful athlete”.
Ms Jayes said: “She was so excited to be a new mother and it’s all just been ripped away. She saved her baby tonight.”
Hours before the attack, Dr Good shared a video of her daughter sitting in a car seat with her face in the sun to social media, as the song Mr Girl by The Temptations played in the background.
Key moments in Sydney stabbing tragedy
Policewoman Amy, who happened to be nearby when the attack happened, fired a volley of shots after the assailant turned on her and raised a knife.
She was then seen performing CPR on victims of the knife attack, as well as on the suspect, as she waited for backup to arrive and assist.
New South Wales Police Commissioner Karen Webb commended the inspector’s efforts, telling reporters on Saturday: “She showed enormous courage and bravery, and she will process obviously that.”
Witnesses who were shopping in Lululemon told how they heard screaming before seeing the attacker “indiscriminately swiping” at people as he calmly walked along the corridors.
Amid the horror, shoppers provided make-shift medical aid to stabbing victims as others attempted to stop the knifeman.
One brave civilian came face to face with the assailant as he prowled the halls for his next victim.
Video showed the knifeman walking up an escalator toward a man holding a pole; the civilian appeared to be acting as a human shield, preventing the assailant from accessing the higher level.
Eight patients were rushed to various hospital facilities across Sydney – their conditions ranging from serious to critical – and six other injured people were assessed by NSW paramedics at the scene.
Yesterday, NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Anthony Cook said that the knifeman had “engaged with” nine people in the centre.
He said on Saturday: “About 3.10 this afternoon a male walked into a restaurant at Bondi Junction, he left the centre and then returned about 3.20.
“As he moved to the centre, he engaged with about nine people, and it’s clear that during that engagement he caused harm to those people, we believe by stabbing them with a weapon he was carrying.”
He said the man was shot after he raised a knife at a senior police officer, who reports suggest is the brave Inspector Amy.
Cook explained: “She (the inspector) confronted the offender who had moved by this stage to level five, as she continued to walk quickly behind him to catch up with him.
“He turned, faced her, raised a knife. She discharged a firearm and that person is now deceased.”
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the senior police officer a “hero”.
He said: “There is no doubt she saved lives through her action and it is a reminder that those people who wear uniform are people who rush to danger, not away from it and I give thanks to every one of them for the actions they have taken up to now.”
The number of people killed by the knifeman rose to six about 8pm local time on Saturday.
Four women and one man were killed in the shopping centre; Dr Good was rushed to St Vincent’s hospital in a critical condition but died soon after arriving.
Video showed crowds fleeing the busy mall – located in Sydney’s affluent eastern suburbs, just a five-minute drive from Bondi Beach – as police officers rushed to the scene about 3.45pm.
One woman, named Aviva, told 2GB Radio that she “came across dead bodies on the ground” as she ran to her car.
He said: “I saw two.”
“It’s awful, it’s just terrible, I’m in shock,” WA Today reports.
Shoppers Huma Hussainy and Mohamad Naveed said they saw two girls lying in a large pool of blood outside a store, about two metres apart, The Age reports.
They said one of the girls looked to be about 17 years old.
Hussainy said someone “walked up and tried to wake the girl [who had been stabbed,” but she couldn’t be roused.
Forty-five minutes later, as the couple was escorted from the centre, one of the girls had been taken away and a screen had been set up over the second girl.
Geoff Young, 42, was at the Westfield with his 18-month-old child when a noise started “coming from everywhere”.
He told The Age that he stumbled into the aftermath of a stabbing spree and saw a woman lying on the ground bleeding, as another person received CPR, and a third person lay in a pool of blood.
It’s such a shock this happens in a country such as ours…
Anthony Albanese
Witness Ellie Williams, 21, was finishing lunch with her friend about 3.40pm when she saw groups of people running and screaming through the centre.
She said she heard a man scream and three gunshots as she escaped through a fire exit, before alarms sounded and police arrived.
PM Anthony Albanese expressed his “heartbreak” over the deadly knife attack, telling 2GB: “Australians will be shocked as I am by an incident such as this.
“It’s such a shock this happens in a country such as ours, where people should be able to go about their shopping on a Saturday afternoon without any thought that there is risk involved.”
He commended Australians for their first instinct being “to help someone else” even in this instance of “shocking violence”.
King Charles said he and the Queen were “utterly shocked and horrified” to hear of the tragedy in Bondi, writing: “Our hearts go out to the families and loved ones of those who have been so brutally killed during such a senseless attack.”
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said his “heart goes out” to those affected by the “truly devastating” attack in Sydney that killed six people.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, he said: “The horrific attacks at Bondi Junction are truly devastating.
“My heart goes out to those affected by this abhorrent act of violence, and I pray for the recovery of those left injured and traumatised today.
“You are in the thoughts and prayers of the British people.”
His statement followed a message from the Prince and Princess of Wales, which was shared to their X page.
William and Kate wrote online: “We are shocked and saddened by the terrible events in Sydney earlier today.
“Our thoughts are with all those affected, including the loved ones of those lost and the heroic emergency responders who risked their own lives to save others. W & C.”
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