No motive found yet for killer who stabbed 6 to death at Sydney mall

Incident that injured 8 others leaves city in shock; police don’t believe it’s a terror attack

- Jonathan Pearlman

SYDNEY - Police in Sydney have yet to uncover the motive of a mass murderer who went on a stabbing spree at a shopping mall on April 13, killing six people and bringing Australia's largest city to a standstill.

The attack began at around 3.20pm when a man armed with a knife started stabbing people at the Westfield mall in Bondi Junction, a well-known shopping centre that is close to the popular Bondi beach.

He continued his attack - apparently calmly as he moved to different levels of the centre, sending terrified shoppers scrambling for safety. Many locked themselves inside shops or hid inside storerooms.

The man, who was wearing an Australian rugby league team Tshirt, killed five women and a man, and injured eight others, before being shot and killed by a lone police officer.

The officer, who happened to be near the shopping centre and had rushed to the scene, chased down the man and shot him after he turned to face her and raised his knife.

She was later hailed as a "hero" by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who said she had prevented further deaths.

Police said on the night of April 13 that they did not believe the incident was a terrorist attack, but were still investigating.

The man was 40 years old and known to police, but was not suspected to harbour terrorist beliefs, police said.

"There is nothing we are aware of at the scene that would indicate any motive or any ideology," Assistant Commissioner Anthony Cooke of New South Wales Police told reporters.

Police said the attacker had apparently been acting alone, and that closed-circuit television footage showed him entering the mall at 3.10pm and leaving shortly thereafter, before returning again.

The victims included a mother, who was killed, and her ninemonth-old baby, who was taken to hospital after being stabbed in the stomach.