Police investigating the fatal stabbings of six people at a Sydney shopping centre are exploring whether the attacker specifically targeted women.
Joel Cauchi fatally stabbed five women and a male security guard with a long blade during the “rampage” at the busy Westfield Bondi Junction complex on Saturday, said BBC News. A further 12 people were injured, including a nine-month-old girl whose mother died protecting her.
A lone police officer, Inspector Amy Scott, shot and killed Cauchi after he lunged at her with the knife when she confronted the 40-year-old.
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told Australia’s ABC News that the “gender breakdown” of the victims was “concerning”. New South Wales (NSW) Police Commissioner Karen Webb said that after viewing CCTV footage, it was “obvious to me, it’s obvious to detectives that seems to be an area of interest – that the offender had focused on women and avoided men”.
The attacker’s father, Andrew Cauchi, told reporters that his son was “a very sick boy” who had recently come off medication. “He wanted a girlfriend and he’s got no social skills and he was frustrated out of his brain,” he said.
According to the Daily Mail, Cauchi, who had been known to police, had “advertised himself on several male escort websites”. He also worked as an English tutor.
A “special strike force” is set to investigate the mall attack, said the BBC, and NSW Premier Chris Minns has announced an $18 million (£9.3 million) inquiry into the police response.
Flowers and tributes have been laid outside the mall by “emotional residents and loved ones”, said The Guardian Australia, and the victims’ families have been given a chance to walk through the building before it reopens to the public.