Sydney Stabbing: It's Obvious Attacker Focused on Women, Avoided Men, Say Police

New Delhi: The Australian Police said that the man, who went on a stabbing spree and killed six people at Sydney shopping centre on Saturday afternoon, seemed to have been targeting women. The accused has been identified as Joel Cauchi (40).  

The 40-year-old took a knife from his backpack at Westfield shopping centre in Bondi Junction on Saturday and murdered five women and a male security guard. The majority of the 12 injured were also women. The stabbing incident proved fatal for him as well as he was shot dead by a policeman who had been nearby checking liquor licences at hotels before the attack happened.

According to the witnesses of the horrific incident, Cauchi was seen wearing shorts and an Australian national rugby league jersey and was running through the mall with a knife.

A foreign news outlet quoted New South Wales state Police Commissioner Karen Webb as saying, "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." "The videos speak for themselves, don't they? That's certainly a line of inquiry for us," she added.

According to cops, the accused had mental health issues in the past and there was no indication ideology was a motive. Upon being asked on ABC Radio whether it was a gender-motivated attack, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said "the gender breakdown ... was concerning."