The suspect who fatally stabbed six people and injured more than a dozen others on Saturday at a busy shopping center in Australia before being shot and killed by a police officer was identified as a man suffering from mental health issues.
Joel Cauchi, 40, killed five women and one man at the Westfield Shopping Centre in Bondi Junction, New South Wales police said. He injured at least a dozen others, including a 9-month-old baby whose mother died protecting her child during the stabbing spree.
New South Wales police confirmed Sunday that Cauchi has a history of mental illness and that investigators are not treating the attack as terrorism related.
Cauchi’s family said in a written statement obtained by the Associated Press that their son “has battled with mental health issues since he was a teenager.”
While Cauchi’s mental health issues were not immediately specified, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that his family said he battled schizophrenia.
Police said they believe Cauchi’s condition deteriorated over the past five years while using drugs, including methamphetamine and psychedelics, the newspaper reported.
Cauchi was also found to have made a profile on Empire Escorts, a website that allows users to solicit sex work, in June last year, the Morning Herald reported, noting that Cauchi did not post explicit images of himself unlike other profiles.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the responding officer who took down Cauchi was “certainly a hero” whose actions had saved many more lives. The officer was identified as Inspector Amy Scott.
Albanese called Scott a “wonderful inspector who ran into danger by herself and removed the threat that was there to others, without thinking about the risks to herself.”
Cauchi’s family condemned what he did and said in their statement they had “no issue” with the officer fatally shooting him “to protect others.”
“Joel’s actions were truly horrific, and we are still trying to comprehend what has happened,” the statement reads.
So this guy kills six people and injures about a dozen more just in a knife attack! So even though they took all the guns away right afterwards they’ve had massive crimes and murders involving knives! If a person wants to hate or kill he can Mass kill even without a gun so taking away guns all it does is keep you from being able to defend yourself against people like this before he kills a lot of people! Imagine if there’s been a regular citizen with concealed carry in that mall could have shot him before he killed so many people and injured so many! What are you going to do now outlaw knives and confiscape everybody’s knife you might as well also Outlaw matches so that you can prevent forest fires it’s not the matches nor the knives nor the guns it’s the person!
I noticed that 5 of the six people he murdered were women. He might have been crazy, but he wasn’t stupid enough to attack virile men who may also have been packing a knife. I find it somehow appropriate that it was a woman with a gun that put him down like the mad dog he was. If Austrailia is going to continue to disarm their people of guns, then I suggest the men arm themselves with quality knives, get training on how to use them to avoid injuring themselves or having the knife taken away from them in a battle. It’s the only alternative they have to guard against mass murder.
Proves it isn’t the weapon it is the person!
Take away the guns and they will just get a knife and kill as many people, the person that got killed did not have a gun to protect themselves, Suppose they could have got int a knife fight with the guy but a gun would be a lot safer and doable
This is the end result of political policies that allow mentally ill people to run loose in our communities. Reagan closed mental institutions in our country in the 80’s, and we are dealing with higher crime, homelessness, and addiction rates ever since. Looks like Austrailia is dealing with the exact same issues: Social democrats are ruining the world quicker than we can adjust to their ridiculous policies.