Officer, bystanders hailed for stopping man who killed 6 at mall

SYDNEY — A police officer and several bystanders are being hailed for running “towards danger” to confront the attacker who stabbed and killed six people at a suburban Sydney shopping center.

The shopping mall, one of the country’s busiest and near the world-famous Bondi Beach, was a hub of activity on Saturday afternoon when 40-year-old Joel Cauchi used a knife to kill five women and one man. He also injured at least a dozen others, including a 9-monthold baby whose mother died during the attack, before a police officer shot him dead.

New South Wales Police confirmed Sunday Cauchi had a history of mental illness and investigators weren’t treating the attack as terrorism-related.

The number would have been far higher, according to NSW Premier Chris Minns who on Sunday praised “the ordinary members of the public that cornered and confronted a murderer in the Westfield Shopping Centre, showing what I would call instinctive bravery under terrible circumstances.”

Talking to reporters while standing outside the shopping mall, Minns underscored the role played by Inspector Amy Scott — the first emergency responder on the scene — who shot and killed Cauchi and has since been widely lauded as a hero.

“(Scott) ... ran towards danger and showed professionalism and bravery and without a shadow of a doubt, saved many, many lives in the last 24 hours,” he said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also praised Scott in a press conference in Canberra: “The wonderful inspector who ran into danger by herself and removed the threat that was there to others, without thinking about the risks to herself,” he said.