Australian police believe the suspect who stabbed several people at a busy Sydney mall specifically targeted women.
New South Wales Police confirmed that on Saturday (April 13), a knifeman, identified as Joel Cauchi, walked into Westfield Shopping Centre in Bondi Junction at about 3:20PM where he "caused harm" to many people.
The 40-year-old fatally stabbed six victims inside the mall - which is in the Sydney suburb of Bondi - with a weapon that was most likely a knife," according to NBC News.
Numerous others were also critically injured in the ordeal, including a young child.
The horror incident only ended when the 40-year-old suspect was shot dead at the scene by an officer who single-handedly pursued him through the shopping center.
The victims of the stabbing spree were Jade Young, 47, Pikria Darchia, 55, Dawn Singleton, 25, Ashlee Good, 38, and Yixuan Cheng, who is believed to be in her 20s. The only man killed in the attack was security guard Faraz Tahir, 30, who tried to intervene.
While a motive has not yet been disclosed, police commissioner Karen Webb confirmed investigators would look at whether Cauchi had been targeting women and children specifically.
"The videos (of the attack) speak for themselves don’t they," Webb said, as cited by CNN. "It’s obvious to me, it’s obvious to the detectives that that seems to be an area of interest, that the offender had focused on women and avoided the men."
"We don't know what was operating in the mind of the offender and that's why it's important now that detectives spend so much time interviewing those who know him," she added. However, authorities warned the investigation could take a while as cops will interview witnesses and follow different lines of inquiry.
Cauchi was known to police in neighboring Queensland, but he had not been arrested or charged with anything there before Saturday's events.
His father, Andrew Cauchi, told reporters his son had battled with mental illness and recently stopped taking his medication. "To you, he is a monster. To me, he was a very sick boy," he said.
"He wanted a girlfriend and he's got no social skills and he was frustrated out of his brain," Andrew explained when asked about why his son may have targeted women.
One of the women to have been killed was 38-year-old Ashlee Good, who protected her baby daughter by giving her to bystanders when she was wounded by the suspect. The pair were rushed to the hospital but tragically, the mother succumbed to her injuries.
Just hours before the horror unfolded, the mom posted a heartbreaking final social media post with her baby in her arms. "Only because I was walking past and happened to be wearing the same thing 9 months out vs 9 months in etc etc," the caption read, as shared by Daily Mail.
Good's family expressed their gratitude to the medical team at Sydney's Children's Hospital, the police, and to the two men who "cared for our baby when Ashlee could not".
"We appreciate the well-wishes and thoughts of members of the Australian public who have expressed an outpouring of love for Ashlee and our baby girl," they added in their statement, as cited by BBC News.
Our thoughts continue to be with the family and friends of all victims.
