Chinese woman injured in Sydney knife rampage
In a statement, the Consulate General of China in Sydney confirmed thatthe woman who was injured in the attack was a Chinese national.
With multiple streets still remained on lockdown as detectives combedthrough numerous crime scenes, New South Wales (NSW) State Police CommissionerMick Fuller told reporters the «terrifying carnage» began at around2:00 p.m. local time.
«We received multiple phone calls about a 21-year-old man in thevicinity of King Street armed with a knife, wearing a balaclava,» he said.
«The man has stabbed a 41-year-old woman in the back and thatappears to be a random attack.»
«During the next 30 minutes, an expanded crime scene has alsoidentified a 21-year-old woman ... in a unit block in Clarence Street,deceased.»
«All of the available information that we have at hand would linkthese two crimes.»
With the accused attacker now in custody, footage posted on social mediashowed the man yelling and waving the large knife, before being apprehended bymembers of the public.
In the video, the assailant jumped on top of a car and faced off with amember of the public who used a chair to defend himself.
Later, bystanders including a firefighter used implements such as chairsand a crate to restrain the offender before authorities arrived on the scene.
Offering his gratitude to the heroic Sydneysiders who intervened to stopthe alleged attacker, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison took to socialmedia to praise their actions.
«The violent attack that took place in Sydney this afternoon isdeeply concerning,» he said.
«The attacker is now in police custody following the brave actionsof those who were present at the scene and were able to restrain him.»
One of those people who helped subdue the knifeman was 37-year-oldformer professional footballer Paul O'Shaughnessy who played for the Englishclub Bury.
«We just finished lunch,» he told the Guardian news outlet.
«We're just based on King Street and we have a window slightly openso we can hear noise and traffic and we heard a lot of shouting which was nowobviously the attacker, and my brother opened the window even more and he said,'Mate, there's a guy wielding a knife.'»
While the man could be heard on video shouting «extremist»slogans during the rampage, Fuller said at this stage the attack was not beingclassed as a terrorist incident.
«From everything we have at the moment there are no links with himand any terrorist organizations, and there is no information that he wasworking on behalf of anyone else,» he explained.
However, Fuller did indicate that a digital device found on the suspectheld information about «other crimes of mass casualties and mass deathsaround the world,» including recent attacks in the United States and NewZealand.
Believed to have a long history of mental illness, police wereinvestigating the possibility the man might have escaped from a mental healthfacility a few days prior.
Although there were initial reports of a third stabbing, police haveconfirmed with Xinhua there were only two victims.
The man was expected to be formally charged by police Wednesday.