Sydney attacker apparently targeted women

Five of the six fatalities are female: the Sydney knife attacker apparently targeted women. The police now want to clarify why. Meanwhile, the perpetrator’s father commented on the possible background.

The Sydney attacker apparently targeted women. According to investigators’ latest findings, the perpetrator who killed six people and injured several others with a knife in a popular shopping center on Saturday apparently “concentrated on women and avoided men” in his attack, said the police chief of the state of New South Wales , Karen Webb, the ABC television station.

The reason for this assumption, on which the investigation now focused, were recordings of the attack. Surveillance videos showed the attacker running through the mall with a long knife, chasing mostly female victims. The videos “speak for themselves,” Webb said. In order to gain further knowledge, it is now important that the investigators question the people in the perpetrator’s circle of acquaintances in detail.

Father: Son wanted a girlfriend, was frustrated

Meanwhile, the perpetrator’s father commented on a possible motive. The 76-year-old told journalists that he knew why his son primarily targeted women: “Because he wanted a girlfriend, had no social skills and was completely frustrated.” His son was suffering from schizophrenia. “To you he’s a monster. To me he was a very sick boy. Believe me, he was a very sick boy.”

His son was fascinated by knives. He himself took five military combat knives away from him last year while they were still living together in the family home in Toowoomba, Queensland, about 870 kilometers from Sydney. He feared that his son might become violent with the knives. His son was upset, called the police and accused him of theft. The knives were given to a friend for safekeeping.

“I told the police that my son had schizophrenia and I was worried about myself,” said the father. “I said to my buddy, ‘Why do I feel like I’m going to be killed in my own house by my own son with a US combat knife?'”

Five women, one man among the victims

The man killed six people and injured several others on Saturday afternoon in the busy Westfield Bondi Junction shopping center in the east of the Australian metropolis before he was shot by a police officer.

According to Police Chief Webb, the fatalities were five women and one man. According to recent reports, a Chinese student was among the victims. The young woman is the last of the victims to be identified after Saturday’s attack.

Twelve people were also taken to hospital, including a baby. According to media reports, the mother handed her nine-month-old baby to a passerby before she was stabbed herself. The baby required emergency surgery and was in a “serious but stable condition,” according to police. The man killed by the attacker was a 30-year-old from Pakistan who worked as a security guard, representatives of the Pakistani community said.

Terror motive excluded

The police later identified the perpetrator as 40-year-old Joel C. He was known to the authorities and suffered from mental illness.

Officials ruled out a terrorist background. So far, there is nothing that points to an “ideology” as the motivation for his bloody deed, it was said.