The Sydney knife attacker who killed six people at an Australian shopping centre advertised himself online as a male escort and tried to join groups of gun owners. Joel Cauchi, 40, from Queensland , had been known to police, particularly over the last five years, but had not been arrested or charged before he committed the attack on Saturday afternoon. He was killed by a police officer during his knife rampage at the Westfield shopping centre at Bondi Junction in the east of Sydney.
It has been reported that Cauchi had set up profiles on several male escort websites, including Australia Cracker, Empire Escorts and Escorts Australia. In a photo posted on one escort site, he is pictured sitting on a chair wearing a Manchester United football shirt. We are in contact with both the New South Wales Police Force and Queensland Police Service and have no issues with the police officer who shot our son as she was only doing her job to protect others, and we hope she is coping alright.
Queensland Police assistant commissioner Roger Lowe said Cauchi was diagnosed with a mental illness at the age of Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in Please refresh your browser to be logged in. Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.
Not now Yes please. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email. I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy. Thank you for registering Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in Please refresh your browser to be logged in.
