Australian police have said they believe a man who fatally six stabbed people at a busy Sydney shopping centre specifically targeted women.
Five women and one man were killed on Saturday when a 40-year-old man went on a stabbing spree in the beach suburb of Bondi.
The women killed in the attack were identified as a 55-year-old designer, a 47-year-old architect and volunteer surf lifesaver, the 25-year-old daughter of an entrepreneur, a 27-year-old student from China and a 38-year-old new mother.
A 30-year-old Pakistani security guard, who reportedly tried to stop the attacker, was the only man killed in the attack.
The majority of those injured in the attack were also women.
New South Wales state Police Commissioner Karen Webb said on Monday that it was “obvious” the suspected attacker, Joel Cauchi, singled out women.
“It’s obvious to me, it’s obvious to detectives that seems to be an area of interest that the offender focused on women and avoided the men,” Webb told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
“The videos speak for themselves, don’t they? That’s certainly a line for inquiry for us.”
Webb said officers were in the process of interviewing people close to Cauchi to gain “some insight into what he might have been thinking”.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the gender breakdown of the victims was “concerning”.
“The gender breakdown is of course concerning – each and every victim here is mourned,” he told ABC radio.
The suspected assailant’s father, Andrew Cauchi, on Monday told The Australian newspaper that his son had a long history of mental illness and was “frustrated out of his brain” due to his inability to get a girlfriend.
Videos shared on social media showed Cauchi, wearing shorts and an Australian national rugby league jersey, targeting mostly female victims as he rampaged through Westfield Bondi Junction shopping complex.
The attack was brought to an end when police inspector Amy Scott shot him dead.
Australia’s national flag has been set at half-mast at major venues, including the Parliament House and Sydney’s Harbour Bridge, in honour of the victims.
