Australia- Nine people stabbed including 9 month baby @ the Westfield Shopping Centre in Bondi Junction, suspect fatally shot, Sydney, 13 April 2024

[iamshadow21]

Also seeing some footage, it’s clear there were quite a few people who didn’t know what was happening. There were people walking directly towards the perpetrator, getting within a metre before realising he had a knife!

I wonder if many of the female victims were with children? I think your focus would already be split between shopping and making sure your children are still with you and behaving, and once you realise something is going wrong nearby, you can’t just quickly remove yourself from the situation; you have to make sure your children are safe too.

Although it definitely might be that women were targeted, I think it is, at the moment, a toss-up. There also may be a few contributing factors that explain why (thus far) more women were killed and seemingly more women were injured without it being that they were necessarily targeted.

It may also be the gender split of who wants to go shopping on a Saturday afternoon. I know it's not exclusively the province of women to go shopping and men to stay home, but there are ebbs and flows in retail, times of day when you tend to see more of one gender than the other, more families, more older people, more teens.

(I'm talking now in strict binaries and gender isn't that simple, but for the moment let's pretend it is and that everyone who presents or appears a certain binary gender is that gender.)

So perhaps we're seeing more female victims because there were simply more female customers at Bondi Junction Westfield at that time of day, in that section of the centre. We know the names of some of the businesses where victims were, where the perpetrator was sighted. Chanel was one. That's going to trend to having femme-presenting customers. If the floors he was stalking were of more the fashion and cosmetics side than general groceries, Lowes, and JBHifi (to name some brands at random, no idea if this centre has those outlets), then you're going to probably find more female customers shopping there.

MOO

 

[Diogenetic]

So perhaps we're seeing more female victims because there were simply more female customers at Bondi Junction Westfield at that time of day, in that section of the centre. W

I think that is most likely. And have we seen gender breakdown of all the victims or just the dead?
I am seeing lots of poor reporting, such as "30 inch kitchen knife." Very large kitchen knives are half that length even including handle. 30" is a good sized sword. More likely this was simply not 30"
Police/law enforcement must know this guy for them to exclude terrorism so fast, esp given this week after Ramadan is the worldwide peek in terrorism attacks.
So given they excluded it so fast would mean it is likely they know him as an extremely mentally ill person.

 

[katydid23]

It may also be the gender split of who wants to go shopping on a Saturday afternoon. I know it's not exclusively the province of women to go shopping and men to stay home, but there are ebbs and flows in retail, times of day when you tend to see more of one gender than the other, more families, more older people, more teens.

(I'm talking now in strict binaries and gender isn't that simple, but for the moment let's pretend it is and that everyone who presents or appears a certain binary gender is that gender.)

So perhaps we're seeing more female victims because there were simply more female customers at Bondi Junction Westfield at that time of day, in that section of the centre. We know the names of some of the businesses where victims were, where the perpetrator was sighted. Chanel was one. That's going to trend to having femme-presenting customers. If the floors he was stalking were of more the fashion and cosmetics side than general groceries, Lowes, and JBHifi (to name some brands at random, no idea if this centre has those outlets), then you're going to probably find more female customers shopping there.

MOO

Yes, I think there would be many women that time of day. Add to that, if he wanted a lot of victims, he'd go after the most vulnerable. If he went after a male his size he'd be the more vulnerable one---and he seemed to run away from the males who did try to confront him.

I think he was a coward as he began his attacks upon a woman holding an infant. He is disgusting, imo. Why doesn't he pick on someone his own size?

 

[translator]

It may also be the gender split of who wants to go shopping on a Saturday afternoon. I know it's not exclusively the province of women to go shopping and men to stay home, but there are ebbs and flows in retail, times of day when you tend to see more of one gender than the other, more families, more older people, more teens.

I absolutely agree with your entire assessment (just condesnsing the quote so as to not spam)! I think it is too early to tell whether this was an attack that was motivated by misogyny. Given this man is known to LE, I have hope that we will find out what the motive likely was. Hopefully that can help to prevent similar attacks in the future or at least help to guide emergency protocol for potential similar attacks.

 

[GoBuckeyes]

Were women targeted? There's a very clear pic of the size of the knife (huge!) back on page one of the thread. In it the attacker walks right by a man. Just curious if women were targeted. I'm sure a lot of information will come out over the coming days.

 

[iamshadow21]

I think that is most likely. And have we seen gender breakdown of all the victims or just the dead?
I am seeing lots of poor reporting, such as "30 inch kitchen knife." Very large kitchen knives are half that length even including handle. 30" is a good sized sword. More likely this was simply not 30"
Police/law enforcement must know this guy for them to exclude terrorism so fast, esp given this week after Ramadan is the worldwide peek in terrorism attacks.
So given they excluded it so fast would mean it is likely they know him as an extremely mentally ill person.

Just the deceased at this time. We don't know the genders of those taken to hospital, or any "walking wounded" who may have not needed emergency treatment.

I've seen video stills. I think people are mixing their measurements up. There is no way it was 30 inches. We do things in metric here. It's perhaps 30 centimetres, including the handle. I have a kitchen knife that looks a similar size that's about 30cm.

MOO

 

[Diogenetic]

Why doesn't he pick on someone his own size?

Study after study show that criminals pick on the weak. Even our Chimpanzee cousins, who commit lots more murder than we humans do, pick the weak or situations where t is 5:1 or more when attacking or killing others -- because it lowers risk to attacker. Sad but true.

 

[translator]

I am seeing lots of poor reporting, such as "30 inch kitchen knife." Very large kitchen knives are half that length even including handle. 30" is a good sized sword. More likely this was simply not 30"

Average kitchen knife maxes at ~35cm so I wonder if someone has used the incorrect unit of measurement? Maybe rather than inches it was supposed to be centimetres.

 

[Diogenetic]

Average kitchen knife maxes at ~35cm so I wonder if someone has used the incorrect unit of measurement? Maybe rather than inches it was supposed to be centimetres.

I think that is most likely. And what I see him carrying looks to be an average size chefs knife. The "huge weapon" seen in stills on escalator is a defender with some kind of furnishing, looks like a stanchion that holds ribbon type gates usted to create lines/queing. If you are going to confront a knife wielding attacker you would want to pick up an implement

 

[Elley Mae]

The knifeman who killed five women and one man during a rampage in Sydney today was 'known to police'.

Six killed in shopping centre bloodbath after knifeman goes on rampage

The stabbing happened at Bondi Junction Westfield shopping centre, which into lockdown just before 4pm on Saturday.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Known to police? What does that mean? Does an arrest for whatever label you as, known to police?

 

[Dotta]

Dbm

 

[mamamama9873]

The knifeman who killed five women and one man during a rampage in Sydney today was 'known to police'.

Six killed in shopping centre bloodbath after knifeman goes on rampage

The stabbing happened at Bondi Junction Westfield shopping centre, which into lockdown just before 4pm on Saturday.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Known to police? What does that mean? Does an arrest for whatever label you as, known to police?

I believe it means a criminal record, previously found guilty of a crime

 

[iamshadow21]

I think that is most likely. And what I see him carrying looks to be an average size chefs knife. The "huge weapon" seen in stills on escalator is a defender with some kind of furnishing, looks like a stanchion that holds ribbon type gates usted to create lines/queing. If you are going to confront a knife wielding attacker you would want to pick up an implement

Yeah, it's a plastic bollard thing, probably taken from fencing something off like an out of order escalator or elevator, or a wet or damaged area of flooring. The base is slightly weighted for stability, but they're light and hollow and probably about as useful in a knife fight as a traffic cone. Better than nothing.

MOO

 

[DS2021]

I believe it means a criminal record, previously found guilty of a crime

They immediately said they didnt think it was terrorism. That would lead me to believe that they know something about him, that has given them a strong idea of what the motive was

 

[iamshadow21]

The knifeman who killed five women and one man during a rampage in Sydney today was 'known to police'.

Six killed in shopping centre bloodbath after knifeman goes on rampage

The stabbing happened at Bondi Junction Westfield shopping centre, which into lockdown just before 4pm on Saturday.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Known to police? What does that mean? Does an arrest for whatever label you as, known to police?

Probably similar to 'frequent flyer'. He has form. Whether it was for other violent offences or just for minor things like being a nuisance or urinating in public, we don't know at this point. Rough sleepers tend to be criminalised for existing, so it's possible for someone sleeping rough to be known to police but not actually be someone dangerous or criminal - just down on their luck.

MOO

 

[Diogenetic]

Yeah, it's a plastic bollard thing, probably taken from fencing something off like an out of order escalator or elevator, or a wet or damaged area of flooring. The base is slightly weighted for stability, but they're light and hollow and probably about as useful in a knife fight as a traffic cone. Better than nothing.

MOO

Having more than a bit of training in CQ, that is way more useful than nothing in a knife fight. One certainly could knock someone unconscious with the weighted base. A rolled up newspaper or magazine is useful in a knife fight. Let's keep in mind the attacker likely had no training with a knife at all.

 

[Diogenetic]

They immediately said they didnt think it was terrorism. That would lead me to believe that they know something about him, that has given them a strong idea of what the motive was

Almost certainly deeply mentally ill, which is very common in homeless

 

[SouthAussie]

Average kitchen knife maxes at ~35cm so I wonder if someone has used the incorrect unit of measurement? Maybe rather than inches it was supposed to be centimetres.

Sorry, that was me. The article I paraphrased said he refused to drop his 30cm knife, when told to by the police officer.

Somehow I translated that (incorrectly) to 30 inch. The article does say 30cm.

This is the man who killed six in stabbing rampage

 

[Diogenetic]

I believe it means a criminal record, previously found guilty of a crime

"Known to police" can be a criminals record could easily also simply be a some or many arrests with few or no convictions. Also could mean wellness checks for remand/evaluating for mental illness.

 

[iamshadow21]

Having more than a bit of training in CQ, that is way more useful than nothing in a knife fight. One certainly could knock someone unconscious with the weighted base. A rolled up newspaper or magazine is useful in a knife fight. Let's keep in mind the attacker likely had no training with a knife at all.

Yep, I agree. I have no training whatsoever, but I can see the advantages of it. The reach, for one. It's longer than the knife is.

Not denigrating traffic cones, by the way - they're heavier than most people think, and the rubbery plastic would probably grab the blade of a knife if someone stabbed it.

MOO