Sydney serial stabbing suspect suffered from mental health issues, police and family say

The suspect who fatally stabbed six people and injured more than a dozen others on Saturday at a busy shopping center in Australia before being shot and killed by a police officer was identified as a man suffering from mental health issues.

Joel Cauchi, 40, killed five women and one man at the Westfield Shopping Centre in Bondi Junction, New South Wales police said. He injured at least a dozen others, including a 9-month-old baby whose mother died protecting her child during the stabbing spree.

New South Wales police confirmed Sunday that Cauchi has a history of mental illness and that investigators are not treating the attack as terrorism related.

Cauchi’s family said in a written statement obtained by the Associated Press that their son “has battled with mental health issues since he was a teenager.”

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Police in Australia have identified Joel Cauchi, 40, as the assailant who stabbed several people to death at a busy Sydney shopping center on Saturday before he was fatally shot by a police officer. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

While Cauchi’s mental health issues were not immediately specified, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that his family said he battled schizophrenia.

Police said they believe Cauchi’s condition deteriorated over the past five years while using drugs, including methamphetamine and psychedelics, the newspaper reported.

Cauchi was also found to have made a profile on Empire Escorts, a website that allows users to solicit sex work, in June last year, the Morning Herald reported, noting that Cauchi did not post explicit images of himself unlike other profiles.

Three women place flowers as a tribute near a crime scene at Bondi Junction in Sydney on Sunday after several people were stabbed to death at a shopping center the previous day. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the responding officer who took down Cauchi was “certainly a hero” whose actions had saved many more lives. The officer was identified as Inspector Amy Scott.

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Albanese called Scott a “wonderful inspector who ran into danger by herself and removed the threat that was there to others, without thinking about the risks to herself.”

Cauchi’s family condemned what he did and said in their statement they had “no issue” with the officer fatally shooting him “to protect others.”

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“Joel’s actions were truly horrific, and we are still trying to comprehend what has happened,” the statement reads.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.