Australian police investigate why women were targeted in Sydney stabbing attack
Australian police are examining why a lone assailant who stabbed six people to death in a Sydney shopping mall targeted women while avoiding men.
MELBOURNE, Australia — Australian police are examining why a lone assailant who stabbed six people to death in a busy Sydney shopping mall and injured more than a dozen others targeted women while avoiding men, a police commissioner said Monday. The killer’s father blamed his son’s frustration at not having a girlfriend.
Police shot and killed the homeless assailant, Joel Cauchi, during his knife attack in the Westfield Bondi Junction mall on Saturday near world-famous Bondi Beach.
Police have ruled out terrorism and said the 40-year-old had a history of mental illness.
New South Wales state Police Commissioner Karen Webb said detectives would question Cauchi’s family in a bid to determine his motive. CCTV footage from the mall showed Cauchi targeted women.
“The videos speak for themselves, don’t they? And that’s certainly a line of inquiry for us,” Webb said.
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