DAfter a fatal knife attack at a Sydney shopping mall, Australian police do not believe the perpetrator had a terrorist motive. The 40-year-old attacker had psychological problems and apparently had no ideological or other specific motive, New South Wales State Police Deputy Commissioner Anthony Cooke said on Sunday morning (local time). “It seems clear to us now that it was related to his mental health.” Cooke did not elaborate on that point in his statement.
Police have also spoken to the family of a man who arrived in New South Wales from Queensland state last month and used the small storage unit, Cooke said. This storage has already been searched. Cooke said the man was known to Queensland police before the crime, but not for any serious offences.
On Saturday afternoon, a criminal stabbed several people in a shopping mall in Sydney, eastern Australia. Five died at the Bondi Junction shopping center and a sixth victim died of his injuries in hospital. There were fears for the lives of others, some of whom were seriously injured. Cooke said Sunday that several victims remained hospitalized, many in “critical but stable condition” — including a one-month-old baby whose mother was among the dead, according to media reports. The criminal was shot by a policeman.