Sydney, Australia, Apr 15 (EFE).- New South Wales police were investigating Monday why the Sydney knife attack attacker appeared to have targeted women.
On Saturday, 40-year-old Queensland man Joel Cauchi killed six people, including five women, during a stabbing rampage in Westfield Bondi Junction shopping center.
«It’s obvious to me, it’s obvious to detectives that seems to be an area of interest that the offender had focused on women and avoided the men,» NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb told Australian public broadcaster ABC.
«Five of the deceased are women and the majority of victims in hospital are also women.”
Footage from the scene appeared to show that Cauchi, who was known to police for mental health reasons, sought to attack women and avoid men during the incident.
«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, were around him, were close to him. So we can get some insight into what he might have been thinking,» said the police chief.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also told ABC that «the gender breakdown is, of course, concerning.»
When asked if police were investigating whether the Bondi attacker engaged with misogynist networks and online forums, he said “all of that investigation will take place. It will be comprehensive and, nothing will not be looked at in this matter.”
Police had ruled out terrorism as a motive early on in the investigation.
Flags were flying at half-mast at parliament and other institutions in the country as a sign of mourning on Monday, and outside the mall in Sydney there was a growing mountain of floral tributes left by members of the public.
The women killed in the incident included 38-year-old Ashlee Good who, badly injured, handed two strangers her nine-month-old baby girl, who had also been stabbed.
Dawn Singleton, a 25-year-old daughter of millionaire Australian entrepreneur John Singleton, also died, as well as 47-year-old architect Jade Young, Pikri Darchia, a 55-year-old designer, and Chinese student Yixuan Cheng, who was in her twenties and identified Monday by Albanese.
Faraz Tahir, a 30-year-old Pakistani refugee who worked as a security guard, was also killed when he tried to intervene.
About 12 people were treated in Sydney hospitals, of which eight were still hospitalized on Monday, including Good’s baby, who underwent emergency surgery and whose condition has improved from critical to serious but stable.
The attacker was shot by a policewoman at the scene after he confronted her. The officer, who has been hailed as a hero, tried to resuscitate the man while waiting for medics, who were unable to revive him. EFE
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