After the fatal knife attack in a shopping center in Sydney, 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, said Anthony Cooke, deputy chief of the New South Wales state police, on Sunday morning (local time). “It seems clear to us at this point that it had to do with his mental health.” Cooke did not elaborate on this point in his statement.
Police have also spoken to the family of the man, who arrived in New South Wales from Queensland state last month and was using a small storage unit, Cooke said. This storage room has already been searched. According to Cooke, the man was known to police in Queensland before the crime, but not for any serious offenses.
The perpetrator stabbed several people in a busy shopping center in the eastern Australian metropolis of Sydney on Saturday afternoon. Five died at the mall in Bondi Junction and a sixth victim died from his injuries in hospital. There were fears for the lives of other people, some of whom were seriously injured. Cooke said Sunday that several victims remained in hospital, many of them “in critical but stable condition” – including a month-old baby whose mother was among the dead, according to media reports. The perpetrator was shot by a policewoman.
