Police officer, bystanders praised for confronting and arresting man who killed 6 people at Sydney mall

SYDNEY– A police officer and several passers-by were arrested for running “into danger” to confront the attacker who stabbed and killed six people in a shopping center in a Sydney suburb.

The shopping centre, one of the busiest in the country and located near the famous Bondi Beach, was a center of activity on Saturday afternoon when Joel Cauchi, 40, used a knife to kill five women and a man. He also injured at least a dozen other people, including a 9-month-old baby whose mother died during the attack, before a police officer shot her dead.

New South Wales police confirmed on Sunday that Cauchi had a history of mental illness and that investigators did not consider the attack to be terrorism-related.

That number would have been much higher, according to New South Wales Premier Chris Minns, who on Sunday praised “ordinary members of the public who cornered and confronted a murderer in Westfield Shopping Centre, demonstrating what I would call it instinctive bravery in terrible circumstances.”

Speaking to reporters while standing outside the mall, Minns highlighted the role played by Detective Amy Scott – the first emergency responder on the scene – who shot and killed Cauchi and has since been widely hailed as a hero.

“(Scott)… ran into danger and showed professionalism and courage and, without a shadow of a doubt, saved many, many lives over the last 24 hours,” he said. he declares.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also praised Scott at a press conference in Canberra: “The wonderful inspector who ran into danger on her own and eliminated the threat to others, without thinking of the risk to herself.” , did he declare.

He praised “ordinary Australians who put themselves in harm’s way to help their fellow citizens.” This bravery that we saw yesterday was quite extraordinary.

Video footage shared online showed many people fleeing, some carrying their children as they fled while a knife-wielding Cauchi ran erratically through the mall, lunging at people.

Other footage showed a passerby holding what appeared to be a metal pole to hold Cauchi up an escalator at the time.

Hundreds of floral tributes and messages for the victims were left Sunday outside the shuttered mall, which police say will remain an active crime scene for days, if not weeks.

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Smith reported from Newcastle, Australia