Sydney is mourning the six people who were stabbed to death at Bondi Junction shopping centre.
Photo: EFE – FLAVIO BRANCALEONE
Six people were killed in a stabbing attack at a Sydney shopping center on April 13. Among the victims are a woman who saved her baby, a Pakistani refugee and the last victim to be identified, a Chinese graduate student.
The attacker was shot dead by the Australian Police and his motives are still unknown, although authorities have spoken of possible mental health problems. Police said the investigation will include why he attacked the women and avoided the men during his attack.
According to the police report, the assailant entered the popular Westfield Bondi Junction shopping center at 3:10 pm local time, left shortly after and returned about ten minutes later, when he attacked several people with a knife.
Four women and one man died at the scene, while another injured woman died two days later in hospital. Eight other people are admitted to hospitals in the city, including a nine-month-old baby who has undergone emergency surgery.
These were some of the victims of the first attack. It should be noted that this Monday there was another stabbing in Sydney, in which four people were injured in a confrontation in an Assyrian church, which sparked friction between members of the congregation, dismayed by the attack, and the police.
ASHLEE GOOD
Ashlee Good, 38, an osteopath by profession, died on Monday after being injured along with her nine-month-old daughter who is still in the emergency room. Her friends and family remembered her as a “beautiful mother, daughter, sister, partner, friend” and an “exceptional human being in all aspects,” she tells AP.
According to witnesses, Good passed her baby to two nearby strangers before losing consciousness. “To the two men who held and cared for our baby when Ashlee couldn’t, words cannot express our gratitude,” reads the family’s statement reported by AP.
Good’s father, Kerry Good, is a former Australian rules football player and current board member of the North Melbourne AFL club. In honor of the deceased, the club wore black armbands in its match on Sunday.
FARAZ TAHIR
The only man killed was a security guard named Faraz Tahir, a 30-year-old Pakistani refugee who worked at the mall.
Faraz had been in Australia for less than a year and, according to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Australia, was a valued member of the community. “He quickly became an integral part of our community, known for his unwavering dedication and kindness,” the organization added in a statement.
Faraz was credited with attempting to stop the attack. Elliott Rusanow, CEO of the shopping center, Scentre Group, said in a statement to Nine News “We are devastated by Faraz’s passing and recognize our team member’s bravery and role as a first responder.” Rusanow added that another member of the security team “was injured and remains in the hospital.”
YIXUAN CHENG
Yixuan Cheng, a master’s student in economics at the University of Sydney, was the latest victim to be identified. Her fiancé, Wang, reported that she spoke to Cheng around 3:00 pm, just minutes before the attack.
“Happily, she talked to me on the phone around 3 p.m. She even tried on clothes for me to see,” Wang told the AP. After the attack, she tried to contact Cheng “day and night, but there was no contact,” she added.
Cheng’s family spent the next 24 hours watching news of the attack until they received news of his death.
Wang said the couple had planned to marry after Cheng graduated.
