Police are investigating whether the man behind a “very traumatic” stabbing rampage at the Bondi Westfield shopping centre in Sydney’s east yesterday afternoon had targeted women.
Joel Cauchi, 40, has been named as the knife-wielding man who killed six people and injured at least a dozen more in the attack.
The victims included 38-year-old woman Ash Good, the mother of a nine-month-old baby girl who was also critically injured in the attack.
Police have confirmed four women and one man, believed to be a security guard, died at the scene. The attacker was also killed after shots were fired from Inspector Amy Scott.
Those injured have been hospitalised in conditions ranging from critical to serious but stable. The nine-month-old infant has undergone surgery and is currently in ICU care.
At a press conference today, NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said about eight of those injured were also women.
She said whether Cauchi targeted women was an “obvious line of inquiry”.
“At this stage, we don’t know a motive. What we do understand, so far, is that there’s no ideological motivation,” she said.
“We do understand that there is a history of mental health but it will be the ongoing work of the investigators to determine what his activities were yesterday and the days before.”
Webb said police would work through the “very confronting” and “very traumatic” crime scene throughout the day and into the night as part of the investigation, which could take weeks.
NSW Premier Chris Minns at the press conference said this was a “horrifying and violent attack”.
“The individual stories of those who’ve been killed, the complete strangers rushing in to help, as well as acts of courage and bravery mean that whether you know the individuals who’ve been killed or not, you’re grieving today,” he said.
READ MORE: Timeline: How the Bondi Junction Westfield stabbing attack unfolded
