A PASSERBY WITH A CHAIR CHALLENGES A MAN HOLDING A KNIFE DURING AN ATTACK IN SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, THAT WAS ENDED BY BYSTANDERS WITH CRATES AND CHAIRS.
Bystanders jump to stop Sydney stabbing spree
The blood-spattered man climbed atop a Mercedes-benz at a stoplight in downtown Sydney and held a knife in the air. He’d already stabbed one woman at a nearby hotel, police later said, and tried to attack others in the busy commercial district on Tuesday.
That’s when a bystander, armed only with a wooden chair, jumped into action. Others quickly helped. Soon, the civilians subdued the attacker, pinning him down with chairs and a milk crate until police arrived.
“They were significantly brave people,” New South Wales Police Superintendent Gavin Wood told reporters at the crime scene. “To approach a person with a mind set of obviously what this person did, with clear evidence of a stabbing previously, these people are heroes.”
Police have identified the attacker as Mert Ney, 21, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. Authorities told the newspaper they do not consider the attack to be terrorism-related, but they are investigating. Ney had a history of mental health issues, the Morning Herald reported. He was also carrying a computer thumb drive containing information about deadly attacks in North America and New Zealand, police said.
“Information was found on him that would suggest he had some ideologies related to terrorism ... but he has no apparent links to other terrorist organizations,” NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller told the Morning Herald. “It is not currently classed as a terrorist incident . ... As investigation continues, we will reassess that.”
Ney is now in police custody. The woman stabbed in a hotel is expected to survive, police said, but investigators later found another woman dead in a nearby apartment. They’re working to determine if that death is related.
It’s not yet clear what set off the attack, which Wood called “unprovoked,” noting that the attacker “stabbed an innocent woman for no specific reason.”
Police first got a call around 2 p.m. on Tuesday that a man armed with a knife was walking in the city’s business district, more than a mile south of the Sydney Opera House.
Before police could arrive, the man tried to stab more people in the street, Wood said. That’s when bystanders jumped into action.
In a video captured by bystanders, the man hops on a car idling at a stop light. The man driving that car, an Uber driver, later told the Morning Herald he hit the gas to get the rider off his roof
That’s when a bystander holding a chair chased the man into an intersection.