Rick Rycroft/AP
SYDNEY — Police have identified the man who stabbed six people to death at a busy Sydney shopping center before being shot dead by a police officer.
New South Wales Police said on Sunday that Joel Couch, 40, was the perpetrator of the attack on Saturday afternoon at Westfield Shopping Center in Bondi Junction, near world-famous Bondi Beach. .
NSW Police Commissioner Anthony Cooke said at a press conference on Sunday that Couch had as yet unspecified mental health issues and police investigators were treating the attack as terrorism-related. He said he had not.
Mr Cook said: “We continue to profile offenders, but at this stage it clearly appears this is related to the mental health of the person involved.”
“To date, we have not received any information, nor any evidence that we have recovered, that would suggest that this was driven by ideological or other specific motivations,” he added.
The attack at the shopping center, one of the busiest in the country and a hub of activity on a particularly warm autumn afternoon, began around 3:10 p.m., and police were called in shortly after.
The attack killed six people, five women and one man between the ages of 20 and 55, and 12 people remain in hospital, including a 9-month-old child whose mother died during the attack. ing.
Mr Cook said on Sunday that two of the six victims were from overseas and had no family in Australia.
Video footage shared online shows Couch, armed with a knife, walking around the shopping center and lunging at people, causing many to run away.
Another video shows a man holding a pole-like object and confronting his attacker on an escalator in a shopping centre.
Couch was shot and killed at the scene by a female police officer.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters on Sunday that the officer was “absolutely a hero” whose actions saved many more lives.
“He was an incredible police officer who put himself in danger and removed the threat to others without considering the risk to himself.”
“We have also seen footage of ordinary Australians putting themselves at risk to help their fellow citizens. The bravery we saw yesterday was absolutely extraordinary,” he added. Ta.
Police said the shopping center will remain closed Sunday and will be a crime scene for several days.