2024 Bondi Junction Stabbings

On Saturday 13 April 2024, 40-year-old Joel Cauchi stabbed and killed six people and injured a further twelve in the Westfield Bondi Junction shopping centre in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Five women and one man died, while the injured included a nine-month-old girl. Cauchi was later fatally shot by NSW Police Inspector Amy Scott after he ran at her with a knife in hand.

Background

Westfield Bondi Junction is a major shopping centre in Sydney's eastern suburbs, and is the fourth-biggest shopping centre in New South Wales. The attack took place on a Saturday afternoon when the area was filled with hundreds of visitors.

Attack

According to the NSW Police Force, the perpetrator entered Westfield Bondi Junction at around 3:10pm AEST wearing a sports jersey, leaving the centre before returning 10 minutes later with what onlookers described as a knife.

Eyewitnesses said that he was behaving erratically, and video clips from security cameras and bystanders filming showed the perpetrator lunging at some shoppers with his weapon while ignoring others. Several shoppers confronted the man, barring his passage to certain areas, as well as grabbing tools from nearby stores to defend themselves. Phone video showed one man, later identified as French construction worker Damien Guerot, preventing the perpetrator from climbing an escalator to a higher floor by brandishing a bollard at him.

The stabbings began at 3:32:57 pm as the perpetrator waited in line at Sourdough Bakery after he returned to the centre at 3:22 pm. He started the attack by pulling a knife out of his backpack before fatally stabbing Dawn Singleton, who was in front of him at the line. After impaling Singleton, the perpetrator moved south. At 3:33:01 pm, the perpetrator fatally stabbed Jade Young just south of Sourdough Bakery. The perpetrator then tried to stab a woman outside AJE Athletica, but was able to merely scratch her. At 3:33:18 pm, the perpetrator fatally stabbed Yixuan Cheng outside the former Peter Alexander store, now the site of Stylerunner. The perpetrator then stabbed a woman outside Cotton On and stabbed another woman outside Lululemon – both victims would survive. At 3:33:28 pm, two security guards, Muhammad Taha and Faraz Tahir, noticed an attack was happening and decided to report it. They walked towards the Sourdough Bakery and the centre's air bridge. The perpetrator's next victim was another woman outside Kookai who would also survive. The perpetrator then briefly entered the Myer store to stab another woman but she, again, survived. At 3:34 pm, the perpetrator ran out of Myer and stabbed Ashlee Good outside AJE Athletica. As Good staggered away, the perpetrator started to stab her nine-month-old daughter. Good ran back and tried to fight the perpetrator, only to be stabbed again. She would end up dying while her daughter survived. At 3:34:26 pm, the perpetrator ran back past Sourdough Bakery and stabbed both Tahir and Taha. Tahir was fatally stabbed while Taha would survive his injuries. The perpetrator continued running north, stabbing two women nonfatally. At 3:34:51 pm, the perpetrator fatally stabbed Pikria Darchia outside Chanel Boutique. The perpetrator moved down to the third floor and stabbed his final victim at 3:35:40 pm, outside Zimmermann. That person would also survive her injuries.

Subsequently, the perpetrator ran around the third floor and tried to access the fourth floor via an escalator. The two Frenchmen, Damien Guerot and Silas Despreaux, rescued a woman on the escalator and tried to block the perpetrator with bollards. Eventually, the two men threw their bollards at the perpetrator and ran out of the mall. The perpetrator moved up to the fourth floor and stayed near the escalator to the fifth floor outside the ZARA store.

Emergency services were called following reports of multiple people being stabbed. The building was evacuated and public transport around the area was rerouted. Around 40 New South Wales Ambulance resources were deployed to the scene.

At 3:37:21 pm, police inspector Amy Scott entered the centre on the fourth floor with the two Frenchmen next to her. The perpetrator moved up to the fifth floor while Scott and the two Frenchmen followed him up the same escalators. At 3:38:02 pm, the perpetrator started to run with Scott and other civilians chasing him. While running, the perpetrator lunged at several people with the knife without stabbing them. Eventually, the perpetrator turned around and started to run towards Scott. At 3:38:40 pm, the perpetrator ran towards Scott, still holding the knife in his hand. He was then fatally shot in the shoulder and neck by Scott who fired three rounds from her duty handgun. Two of the bullets hit the perpetrator. She began to perform CPR on him immediately after he collapsed. The sound of the shooting alerted more people inside the shopping centre to the incident, which led to more evacuations and store attendants locking down their premises with sheltering customers inside.

Casualties

At 6:15pm, NSW Assistant Police Commissioner Anthony Cooke, in a press conference, initially confirmed five victims had been killed along with the perpetrator, while several others remained critically injured.

Five victims died at the scene. Twelve others were hospitalised, including a nine-month-old girl who underwent surgery, and her mother, who later died in hospital, raising the death toll of victims to six. Some of the injured were described as being in a critical condition. A member of the shopping centre's security was among the injured. On 15 April, China's Foreign Ministry confirmed the death of one Chinese national and the injury of another, stating it will closely monitor the ongoing investigation into the incident.

All six fatalities were adults, comprising five women and one man. The deceased victims were: Cheng Yixuan, 27 (), a student at University of Sydney from China; Pikria Darchia, 55 (), an artist and designer; Ashlee Good, 38, mother of the wounded baby and daughter of former AFL player, Kerry Good; Dawn Singleton, 25, daughter of entrepreneur John Singleton; Faraz Ahmed Tahir, 30 (Urdu: فراز احمد طاہر), an unarmed security guard at the shopping centre and refugee from Pakistan; and Jade Young, 47.

Perpetrator

On the morning after the stabbings, the perpetrator was named as Joel Cauchi, a 40-year-old man from Toowoomba, Queensland, who travelled to Sydney in March 2024. His family contacted police after recognising Cauchi on the news. Cauchi's parents said that they were "absolutely devastated", adding that "Joel's actions were truly horrific". They also said they had no issues with the police officer who shot their son.

Police learned that Cauchi lived a transient lifestyle, was not known to be employed, and was effectively homeless. He was understood to be single with no children. Cauchi suffered from mental health issues and was first diagnosed as such at the age of 17, with investigators stating that he was believed to have schizophrenia. Cauchi's mental health had deteriorated in recent years, while his parents, who said that he had stopped taking medication, noticed that he had become fascinated with knives and began collecting about six of them in January 2023, adding that Joel had previously reported his father to police when he tried to take away his knives. Queensland Police said that Cauchi had been known to them for the past four to five years, with their last recorded interaction with him being a "street check" over suspicious behaviour in December 2023.

Cauchi advertised himself as a male escort on social media. Less than a week prior to the attack, he also posted to a Bondi community Facebook page searching for surfing partners within Bondi.

Investigation

Preliminary enquiries suggested that Cauchi had acted alone. His motive remains unknown.

At 8:30pm, NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb addressed the media, saying police believed the attacker was a 40-year-old male and that the incident was not an act of terrorism. She said there was no ongoing risk to the public. She also alluded that the attacker might have been known to police. The Australian Federal Police were subsequently deployed to assist the state police in their investigation.

At a press conference on 14 April, the day after the stabbings, NSW Police said the perpetrator was 40-year-old Joel Cauchi from Toowoomba, Queensland. They stated that Cauchi, shortly after coming to Sydney, "took possession of a storage facility", and that police had gone through that very small storage facility, later confirmed to be in Waterloo, an inner-city suburb of Sydney. Assistant Commissioner Anthony Cooke said that police had not received evidence that the attack was "driven by any particular motivation – ideology or otherwise", adding that Cauchi suffered from mental health issues. Authorities later said that Cauchi had visited two other Westfield outlets in the days leading to the attack.

On 15 April, Commissioner Webb said it was obvious to her that Cauchi deliberately targeted women during the attack, while avoiding men. Cauchi's mother suggested that he targeted women "because he wanted a girlfriend and he's got no social skills".

NSW Premier Chris Minns announced the establishment of an () coronial inquest into the police response, Cauchi's previous interactions with authorities and the effectiveness of NSW's mental health system. The state government also said that it would review the usage of weapons by security guards in crowded places such as shopping centres and hospitals.

Misinformation

Misinformation about the attack circulated on X, Tumblr and Telegram regarding the identity of the stabber. Initially, the false assumption that the perpetrator was Muslim and the attack was linked to Islamic terrorism was promoted by commentators such as Julia Hartley-Brewer, as well as Britain First co-founder Paul Golding, while Rachel Riley linked the attack to support for Palestine and the "global intifada". Islamophobic and anti-immigrant comments were rife online in the hours after the attack, fuelled by speculation with racist or Islamophobic undertones.

A 20-year-old University of Technology Sydney student with a Jewish surname was also falsely accused of carrying out the attack. Many accounts and political commentators, such as neo-Nazi Thomas Sewell, "Aussie Cossack" Simeon Boikov, and conspiracy theorist Maram Susli, targeted the student for his Jewish heritage. Channel 7 then named the student as the attacker during live coverage and published the report on YouTube without waiting for verification. The company subsequently issued an apology for the error. On 17 April, the student falsely accused of being the attacker sought legal representation for defamation action against Channel 7. The defamation case was settled on 26 April, with Seven acknowledging their error was "a grave mistake".

The Islamophobia Register of Australia recorded 46 reports of hate-related incidents following the stabbing, which it partially attributed to the misinformation released by Islamophobic figures.

Aftermath

A GoFundMe campaign set up in Ashlee Good's name raised over () for her daughter, who was taken out of intensive care on 16 April following surgery for chest and arm injuries and was discharged from hospital on 21 April.

Police returned control of the Westfield shopping centre to its management on the evening of 14 April. The centre reopened on 18 April for a "community reflection day" to allow people to pay their respects and leave floral tributes, with counselling services on site. Scentre Group, which runs the Westfield shopping centre chain, said that it would implement increased security measures in all its stores, including providing enhanced protective clothing for security personnel. It also waived rent payments from the shopping centre's retail tenants from 13 to 19 April. Commercial operations resumed on 19 April.

On 21 June, during a graduation ceremony at the Goulburn Police Academy for 169 new officers, Detective Inspector Amy Scott who stopped the attacker was awarded with the NSW Police Commissioner's Valour Medal, one of the highest in the State’s police for those 'who display exceptional bravery in life-threatening situations'.

Reactions

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that the attack was a "horrific act of violence" and also said he had been briefed on the attack and expressed sympathies with those affected as well as first responders.

He also called Amy Scott a "hero". On 18 April, Damien Guerot was granted permanent residency in Australia in recognition for his actions. This led Muhammad Taha, a security guard from Pakistan who was also injured while confronting Cauchi, to ask why he also wasn't given permanent residency. After his comments were published, Albanese granted Taha permanent residency on 19 April.

Albanese received messages regarding the attack from world leaders such as United States President Joe Biden, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, and New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon. Sympathies were also expressed by Australia's head of state, King Charles III and his wife Queen Camilla, the Prince and Princess of Wales, Pope Francis, and French President Emmanuel Macron, who also praised Damien Guerot and Silas Despreaux for confronting Cauchi.

Acting NSW Premier Penny Sharpe convened a meeting of the state cabinet which also briefed Premier Chris Minns, who was in Tokyo on leave at the time of the attack and subsequently returned to the state. Minns said he was "horrified to hear about the events at Bondi Junction" and, along with Sharpe, expressed sympathies to those affected as well as first responders. On 15 April, Minns said that he was considering the establishment of a permanent memorial to the victims of the attack. An online condolence book was set up by the NSW government. Queensland Premier Steven Miles offered full cooperation of his state's authorities in the investigation after it emerged that the perpetrator came from Queensland. Additional police were deployed in shopping centres in Queensland as a precaution.

Tributes

The day after the stabbing, members of the public laid flowers near the shopping centre's entrance on Oxford Street in tribute to the victims, while volunteers were deployed to offer mental health support.

A vigil was also held at Bondi Junction by Australian-based members of the Ahmadiyya community in remembrance of the victims, particularly Faraz Tahir, an Ahmadi Muslim and volunteer contributor to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth organisation.

Albanese declared a national day of mourning for 15 April, during which flags were flown at half-mast on government buildings and other major landmarks while the Sydney Opera House was lit up with a black ribbon in the evening.

North Melbourne Football Club players wore black armbands in its Australian Football League match against Geelong on 14 April in honour of Ashlee Good, who was the daughter of its board member and former player Kerry Good.

NCIS: Sydney season 2, episode 6 "Hell Week", that aired 14 March 2025, included an title card before closing credits in memory of Jade Young. A minute of silence preceded an A-League Men match between Sydney FC and Western Sydney Wanderers, which was played at Allianz Stadium four hours after the attack occurred. A minute of silence was also held at National Rugby League games following the attack, including the Wests Tigers against the St. George Illawarra Dragons at Campbelltown Stadium on 14 April, as well as the Sydney Roosters hosting the Melbourne Storm at Allianz Stadium on 18 April.

A candlelight vigil was held on 21 April by Waverley Council and the NSW Government at Bondi Beach. Hundreds of people attended, including the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, the NSW Premier and the NSW Governor.

File:University of Sydney flag in half-staff following the 2024 Bondi Junction stabbings (2024) 01.jpg, Flag of the University of Sydney at half-mast following the attack
File:Makeshift memorial at USYD honoring a victim of the 2024 Bondi Junction stabbings (16 Apri 2024) 9.jpg, Makeshift memorial honouring victim Cheng Yixuan at the University of Sydney
File:Bondi massacre 003.jpg, Floral tributes at Bondi Junction after the attack

See also

*List of mass stabbing incidents (2020–present)
* 2024 Wakeley church stabbing, another stabbing with three injuries in Sydney that occurred two days after this incident.

References

External links

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