Bondi Junction Westfield Attacker Identified As 40-Year-Old Queensland Man Joel Cauchi

The man who fatally stabbed six people in Bondi Junction Westfield in Sydney has been identified by police as 40-year-old Queensland man Joel Cauchi.

NSW Police confirmed Cauchi’s identity in a press conference on Saturday, but have not shared the motivation behind his attacks.

However, police say they do not believe Cauchi was motivated by any political ideology and have reiterated that the mass stabbing is not being treated as a terrorist attack, but potentially a mental health episode.

“As I had said last night, there is still to this point nothing that we have, no information we have received, no evidence we have recovered, no intelligence that we have gathered that would suggest that this was driven by any particular motivation, ideology or otherwise,” Assistant Commissioner Anthony Cooke said in a press conference.

“We know that the offender in the matter suffers from mental health. We are continuing to work through the profiling of the offender but very clearly to us at this stage it would appear that this is related to the mental health of the individual involved.”

Police have spoken to Joel Cauchi’s family, and said they are cooperating with the investigation.

The lone knifeman attacked shoppers on Saturday afternoon and killed six people before he was shot dead by NSW Police officer Amy Scott.

Eight people were taken to hospital after the attack, including a 9-month-old baby who is in a serious, but stable, condition. Her mother, 38-year-old Ash Good, is reportedly one of the victims and died in hospital.

NSW Minister of Health Ryan Park said that the traumatic incident may be difficult to process, and that mental health specialists will be stationed at Bondi over the next few days to provide support.

“People can access mental health support directly through the government,” he said, per ABC News.

“We don’t want people to suffer alone. This is a very, very traumatic event and something many people have not seen or witnessed before and we understand that can have a devastating impact on people’s mental health.”

The stabbing attack came just two days after a 36-year-old woman was stabbed at Bondi beach in a brazen midday-attack. The same weekend, two teenagers were stabbed — one fatally — near a school in Doonside. A 16-year-old boy was arrested and charged with murder on Saturday.

Image: Oscar Colman/The Sydney Morning Herald, Supplied