On a perfect mid-autumn day, the scene at an upscale suburban shopping mall in Sydney, Australia, is idyllic: mothers pushing strollers, crowds of young teenagers, families out for a weekend afternoon. It was also boring at the same time.
But in a matter of minutes on Saturday, the vast, high-rise shopping mall instead became a place of panic, confusion and fear. A knife-wielding assailant stabbed nearly 20 people, including a nine-month-old girl, just a mile from famous Bondi Beach in Sydney's east. Six of the victims, including the girl's mother, died, and about 12 others are being treated at hospitals. The attacker, whose motive remains unknown, was shot and killed by police.
The incident was one of the deadliest mass murders in Australia in decades, leaving many wondering how a tragedy of this scale could occur in a country known for its relative safety. It shocked many people.
Residents in the surrounding area said the violence was all the more disturbing because the mall was a center of life that everyone had visited or was planning to visit. Familiar settings such as Lego stores, boba stands and clothing stores became crime scenes and part of traumatic memories.
“This doesn't happen in Australia,” said Christy Spong, 54, who went to the mall with her daughter a few days earlier and returned on Sunday to lay flowers, as she wiped away her makeup with tears. “We just think we're a blessed country because we have strong gun laws.”
Police were searching the crime scene on multiple floors of Westfield Bondi Junction mall, which remained cordoned off, on Sunday. They also examined numerous surveillance camera footage and interviewed hundreds of witnesses to Saturday's attack, trying to assemble a chronology of the rampage that destroyed public order in this wealthy suburb of Australia's largest city. there was.
A portrait of the victims, all but one female, began to emerge. Sources said they included a first-time mother, a security guard who tried to stop the attacker, and a young fashion employee.
Police identified the attacker as Joel Couch, 40, who arrived in the Sydney area a month ago from the northeastern state of Queensland.
Police say why the man, who has a history of mental illness, began threatening shoppers on Saturday afternoon, moving through the upper floors of the mall wearing a rugby jersey and stabbing people with a long knife. remains unknown.
“To date, we have not received any information to suggest that this incident was motivated by any particular motive or ideology,” Anthony Cook, the assistant commissioner of police for New South Wales, which includes Sydney, told a news conference. No,” he said. on Sunday morning.
Asked if it appeared the attacker had identified the woman, State Police Commissioner Karen Webb said it would be an “obvious” focus for police to investigate.
“I think anyone who sees that video can see that,” she said, referring to the victim.
Hedy Davant, 71, who has lived a few blocks from the mall for 30 years and visited the makeshift memorial Sunday, said the pattern seemed clear to her.
“It's very cowardly,” she said. “He avoided men and targeted women and children.”
Huma Husseiny, 33, said she walked out of the fourth-floor Lululemon store after hearing screams Saturday and made eye contact with her attacker who was a short distance away. She said the gunman had a knife, but according to her recollection, it was more than a murder weapon. her legs are long She looked to her left and saw two people lying on the floor surrounded by pools of blood.
“His face was very angry and he had the knife ready, and the way he was holding the knife was the same way,” she said. She hurried back inside to find her hiding place.
The riots were eventually brought to an end by the swift actions of women. Officer Amy Scott was repeatedly praised by authorities for averting what could have been a much greater tragedy by shooting the attacker.
Authorities said Mr Couch had had numerous contacts with Queensland police due to his mental health issues, but had never been arrested. Officials did not explain what those problems were.
Police said family members, who had not been in regular contact with the man, recognized him after seeing a television broadcast of the attack and contacting police. His family said in a statement that his actions were “absolutely horrifying” and that they were still trying to understand what happened.
Fellow shoppers tried to help the victim until more police and medical personnel arrived at the scene.
Lifeguard Andrew Reid asked the shuttered department store to raise its shutters so he could enter the mall to help the woman, who appeared to be bleeding rapidly from a stab wound in the back. He and others did what they could to move to a second woman who was lying nearby with a severe wound to her chest.
“There was just a lot of blood,” he recalled. “They were just bleeding, poor people.”
By Sunday evening, police had released the identities of the two victims, Jade Young and Pikulia Dalchia. Ms. Young, 47, was a mother of two and active in her local surfing lifesaving club.
Dalkia, 55, was an artist and designer, according to her LinkedIn page.
The family of another victim, Ashley Good, said in a statement that she and her young baby daughter were among those who were stabbed. Her family said the baby underwent several hours of surgery on Saturday and was doing well, but Good, 38, did not survive.
Good's family said in a statement Sunday: “We are struggling to come to terms with what happened.”
Lifeguard Reid said he was shocked to later learn that the other victim was his friend Good, with whom he had been in a running group for nearly 10 years. Only then did he remember the empty stroller he had seen in a nearby store.
“She had such a beautiful soul,” he said. “She wanted to be her mother and she got that opportunity nine months ago.”
Ahmadi Muslim community stated in a statement It was announced that Faraz Tahir, 30, a security guard, died while trying to protect others during the attack. He arrived in Australia a year ago as a refugee from his native Pakistan and quickly became a devoted member of the local Muslim community, the statement said. Community spokesperson Mirza Sharif said Saturday was her first time working a shift at Westfield Shopping Mall in Bondi Junction.
Online fashion retailer White Fox Boutique said in a separate social media statement that one of its employees, Dawn Singleton, was among the victims. According to her LinkedIn page, she was an e-commerce assistant who graduated from college in 2019.
By noon Sunday, the temporary memorial across the street from the shopping mall had grown into a pile of about 100 bouquets, wreaths and balloons, with residents standing nearby while walking their dogs or drinking their morning coffee. They talked about how they couldn't believe what had happened. .
Rabbi Mendel Kastel, chief executive of the nearby Jewish House Crisis Center and a police chaplain, said people have been coming to him to express how deeply affected they were by Saturday's events. Stated.
“It's a really fun community. People look out for each other,” he said. “Things like this upset anyone to their core.”
