(NewsReady.com) – Australia changed its gun laws after a 1996 mass shooting that left 35 people dead. Since then, the country has only seen just over two dozen shootings with more than four victims, none on the scale of the 1996 massacre. Unfortunately, the island is now dealing with a different kind of mass killing.
On April 13, people headed to the Westfield Bondi Junction shopping center in Sydney, near the famous Bondi Beach. Joel Cauchi, 40, was among those who stopped by the mall, but instead of shopping, he attacked innocent people with a knife.
Cauchi reportedly moved through the different levels of the shopping center and began stabbing people. New South Wales State Police Commissioner Karen Webb told The Associated Press that the suspect targeted women. She said he “avoided the men” as he attacked people. A police officer eventually shot the suspect, killing him.
Five victims died at the mall, another woman died at the hospital, and twelve people suffered injuries. A 9-month-old baby was among those injured in the attack; her mother, 38-year-old Ashlee Good, died. As her last act of love, Good passed her baby to two men before she passed.
The other deceased victims are 25-year-old Dawn Singleton, 47-year-old Jade Young, 55-year-old Pikria Darchia, and 27-year-old Yixuan Cheng. The only man to die in the stabbing was 30-year-old Faraz Tahir, a Pakistani refugee who’d only been in Australia for less than a year and worked as a security guard at the mall. He reportedly tried to stop the attack.
Another stabbing took place the day after the mall stabbing. A teenager, identified as being just 15, walked into Christ the Good Shepherd Church in a Sydney suburb and began stabbing Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel. The attack happened while the church service was being livestreamed. Four people suffered injuries in the attack, but nobody died. Authorities reported that none of the injuries were life-threatening.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the country was in mourning after the attacks.
Copyright 2024, NewsReady.com
