Yahoo Lifestyle Bondi stabber’s eerie FB post before attack
The man who killed six people during a frenzied attack at Sydney’s Bondi Junction Westfield made a Facebook post inviting strangers to join him at the beach just days before.
On Monday morning, Joel Cauchi, 40, shared the call out in a Sydney Beginner Surfing and Adventuring Facebook group, which has more than 6000 members.
“Hi I am surfing Bondi this afternoon if anyone wants to meet there for a surf!” he wrote.
On Saturday afternoon, at about 3.30pm, Cauchi attacked at least 18 people in the busy shopping centre, before he was shot and killed by a senior police officer.
Cauchi’s social media suggests he grew up in Toowoomba in the Darling Downs region of southern Queensland, and police believe he lived in Brisbane before recently moving to Sydney.
In the aftermath of the attack, members of the group have shared and commented on the post in disgust over Cauchi’s actions.
On April 3, the man also shared a post on a ‘Language Exchange’ Facebook group, asking someone to help tutor him in Swedish.
“Hi I am looking for a fluent Swedish speaker for a language exchange! I am a fluent English speaker and can teach that in exchange for being taught Swedish if you are interested,” he wrote.
Initial investigations by police suggest Saturday’s mass stabbing was not a terrorist-attack, but likely related to Cauchi’s mental health.
“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 told media on Sunday morning.
“We know that the offender in the matter suffered 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.”
Bondi Junction Westfield remained closed on Sunday morning, as police examine the large crime scene.
As it stands, police say four women, who were between the ages of 20 to 55, and a man in his 30s died at the scene, one of who was the daughter of Sydney’s business man John Singleton, Dawn Singleton.
First time mum Ash Good, 38, tragically died in hospital, after she was attacked alongside her nine-month-old baby. The baby underwent extensive surgery, and is now in a stable condition at Sydney Children’s Hospital.
