Queensland man Joel Cauchi has been named as the man who killed five women and one man at Bondi Junction shopping center in a horrific mass stabbing on Saturday.
The 40-year-old was shot dead by a police officer, Amy Scott, who responded to the attack at the busy mall while on duty on an unrelated matter.
Cauchi was known to police in New South Wales and Queensland for mental health-related matters. Police do not believe Saturday’s attack was related to terrorism or linked to any ideology.
Related: Joel Cauchi named as Bondi Westfield attacker who stabbed shoppers
According to his social media activities, Cauchi had been interested in surfing at Bondi Beach and a range of social activities in Sydney, regularly leaving Google reviews for businesses he visited.
He was diagnosed with a mental illness as a teenager and received treatment, but his mental health has deteriorated in recent years, police said.
Here’s what we know so far.
Who was Joel Cauchi?
Cauchi was a 40-year-old Queensland man who led an ‘itinerant’ lifestyle, moving around the state before traveling to NSW last month.
Queensland police said he was single and had no children, and believed he had been living in a car since arriving in Sydney.
Queensland Police Acting Assistant Commissioner Roger Lowe said Cauchi had been diagnosed with a mental illness at the age of 17, for which he had been treated, but his mental health had deteriorated “in recent years”.
His last contact with family was in March. Police said he would “occasionally text his mother with an update on where he was.”
Cauchi was a member of a number of Facebook groups related to social activities across Sydney. He had already joined a group last week because he wanted to meet others for a surf session at Bondi Beach.
In January he had joined a backpackers group, looking for people to carpool with and explore Sydney. He also seems to have had a keen interest in astronomy and regularly publishes on the subject in groups.
Queensland Police said he was unemployed.
NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said an investigation into Cauchi would take place “many days and perhaps weeks”.
Police are said to be working to “identify the movement of the perpetrator [on Saturday and in] the hours, the days, the weeks – his life leading up to yesterday,” Webb told reporters on Sunday.
What was the motive for the attack?
At this stage, police have not identified a motive.
Lowe said Queensland Police had been in contact with Cauchi’s family throughout Saturday evening and Sunday. The family watched footage of the attack on television and “believed this might be their son” before contacting authorities.
Lowe said the family was cooperating with the investigation and had issued a statement expressing condolences to the families and friends of the victims involved in the tragedy.
“They have also sent a message to NSW Police regarding support for the police officer who killed their son and expressed their concerns for her welfare,” Lowe said.
Webb said whether or not Cauchi targeted women would be an “obvious line of inquiry.”
What were his previous interactions with police?
Webb told reporters Cauchi was known to police in NSW and Queensland.
“He has no criminal record, but he has come to the notice of law enforcement in this state and Queensland due to mental health issues,” she said.
Lowe said Cauchi had never been arrested or charged with any criminal offense in Queensland, and had not been charged with a domestic violence order.
“He has had contact with law enforcement primarily in the last four to five years,” Lowe said. “During that contact we are aware that this person has psychological problems.”
Queensland Police’s last interaction with Cauchi was in December 2023, when he was street checked on the Gold Coast.
At a press conference, Lowe was asked if Cauchi had a knife obsession and had ever called the police on his family for taking his knives. Lowe responded: “We are aware of an event in 2023 that we are investigating.”
But Cauchi had never been charged with any crime involving knives, or with possessing knives in an unlawful manner that would warrant prosecution, he said.
When did Cauchi come to NSW?
It is believed Cauchi moved from Brisbane to NSW in March, a month before the attack.
He rented a “very small” storage unit in inner-city Sydney, which Guardian Australia understands was only about a cubic meter in size.
Webb would not confirm its contents but said anything found would be part of the investigation. The contents found so far had not revealed any motive, she said.
According to social media, Cauchi grew up in Toowoomba. He left a review for a local restaurant eleven months ago.
Lowe said he had moved around Brisbane in recent years, to Kangaroo Point and Carina, and then back to his family’s home – believed to be in Rockville, near Toowoomba.
In 2019, the Toowoomba Art Society welcomed Cauchi as a new member, according to a newsletter at the time.
How do people describe his character?
The owner of a knife-sharpening business in Queensland told Guardian Australia on condition of anonymity that Cauchi was a “strange” and “strange” man.
About three years ago, Cauchi had asked the company to sharpen his two “everyday knives.”
“I thought that was strange,” says the owner. ‘He wasn’t a chef or a butcher.
“He says, ‘Oh no, I’m just messing around in the backyard with the knives and I use them every day.'”
The business owner said Cauchi did not talk small talk and was “very to the point.”
“His expressions were just very vague, you could say,” he said. “No real personality about him, just weird. I heard that he constantly leaves one-star reviews on many people’s pages, so exactly those types of people”.
Some of Cauchi’s reviews included a show at the Sydney Opera House five months ago (“absolutely loved it!”), a restaurant in Elizabeth Bay seven months ago (“absolutely lovely”) and a club in Sydney a year ago ( “the atmosphere is pumping”)
On the day of the stabbing, Cauchi quietly ate a lunch of chicken with red curry and rice a few hours beforehand.
Rogate Sianipar, 29, served Cauchi his lunch at Saigon Noodle in the Oxford Street shopping centre, about 100 meters from Westfield, just after midday on Saturday.
“He came at 10am but had no money so came back at 12pm,” Sianipar said. “He seemed confused when he ordered. Normal but confused. He opened his wallet and paid.”