Sydney –
Police have identified a suspect who stabbed six people to death at a busy Sydney shopping center before being shot dead by police.
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 any particular motive, whether ideological or otherwise,” he said. 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 immediately.
The attack killed six people, five women and one man, and injured 12 others, including a nine-month-old child, whose mother died during the attack.
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.
NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said the officer was acting well under the circumstances and would be interviewed on Sunday.
“She showed tremendous courage and bravery,” Webb said, adding that so did other police, civilians and center staff who responded. “It was a terrible situation…but it could have been much worse.”
The shopping center will remain closed Sunday and will be an active crime scene for several days, police said.