Melbourne, Australia — Australian police are investigating why a lone attacker who stabbed six people to death in a busy Sydney shopping center and injured more than a dozen others attacked women while avoiding men, a police commissioner said on Monday.
Police shot and killed homeless attacker Joel Cauchi during his knife attack at the Westfield Bondi Junction shopping center on Saturday, close to the world-famous Bondi Beach.
Police ruled out the possibility of terrorism and said the 40-year-old man had a history of mental illness.
New South Wales State Police Commissioner Karen Webb said detectives would question Cauchi’s family in an attempt to determine his motive. CCTV footage from the mall showed Cauchi targeting women.
“The videos speak for themselves, don’t they? And that is certainly a line of inquiry for us,” Webb told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
“It’s obvious to me, it’s obvious to the detectives that this appears to be an area of interest: that the attacker focused on women and avoided men,” Webb added.
The only man killed was Faraz Tahir, a Pakistani refugee who worked at the mall as a security guard. Tahir was not armed.
Most of the 12 victims who survived their injuries were also women, Webb said.
Evidence will be provided to a coroner to report the circumstances of the deaths.
Webb hoped the coroner would also address the question of whether security guards at the mall, which is one of the largest in Australia, should have been armed.
The families of two victims living abroad have been informed of their deaths, police said. These victims are Tahir, 30, from Pakistan, and Yixuan Cheng, 27, from China. Also killed were Jade Young, 47; Dawn Singleton, 25; Pikria Darchia, 55; and Ashlee Good, 38.
Eight victims who survived their injuries remained in hospitals Monday, including Good’s 9-month-old daughter. The baby’s condition improved overnight Sunday from critical to serious, health officials said.
Conditions for the other seven ranged from critical to stable.
Flags at government buildings across Australia were flown at half-mast on Monday as a day of national mourning was declared to honor the victims. A black ribbon will appear on the sails of the Sydney Opera House on Monday night as part of a light display.
Police returned control of the seven-story crime scene to the mall’s operators on Sunday night, but a decision on when it will reopen has not yet been announced.
The police officer who was credited with saving many lives by shooting Cauchi, Insp. Amy Scott will be interviewed by detectives on Tuesday.
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