After the fatal knife attack in a shopping center in Sydney, the police do not believe the perpetrator had a terrorist motive. The 40-year-old man had psychological problems.
Australian police have identified the Sydney knife attacker and have found no evidence that the man may have acted with terrorist motives. The 40-year-old was known to the authorities and suffered from mental illness. So far there is “nothing” that suggests an “ideology” was driving his bloody deed, said Anthony Cooke, deputy chief of the New South Wales state police.
Many victims in “critical but stable condition”
Police have also spoken to the family of the man, who arrived in New South Wales from Queensland state last month. According to Cooke, the man was known to police in Queensland before the crime, but not for any serious offenses.
The perpetrator stabbed several people in a busy shopping center in the eastern Australian metropolis of Sydney on Saturday afternoon. Five died at the mall in Bondi Junction and a sixth victim died from his injuries in hospital. There were fears for the lives of other people, some of whom were seriously injured. Cooke said several victims remained in hospital, many of them “in critical but stable condition” – including a month-old baby whose mother was among the dead, according to media reports. The perpetrator was shot by a policewoman.