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On a perfect mid-autumn day, the scene at the upscale mall in the suburbs of Sydney, Australia, was as humdrum as it was idyllic: mothers pushing strollers, gaggles of teenagers being young, families whiling away the weekend afternoon.<\/p>\n
But in a matter of minutes, any sense of normalcy was shattered. A mile away from the famed Bondi Beach, a knife-wielding attacker stabbed nearly 20 people inside the shopping mall, including a 9-month-old girl. Six of the victims, including the girl\u2019s mother, have died, and about a dozen others were being treated at hospitals. The attacker \u2014 whose motives remain unclear \u2014 was shot and killed by a police officer.<\/p>\n
It was one of the deadliest mass killings in Australia in recent decades and has left many in shock, questioning how a tragedy of this magnitude could occur in a country known for its relative safety.<\/p>\n
The police on Sunday were combing through a crime scene spanning several floors of the sprawling Westfield Bondi Junction mall. They were also interviewing hundreds of witnesses to Saturday\u2019s attack, trying to piece together the chronology of a rampage that punctured a sense of security in this wealthy suburb of Australia\u2019s largest city.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Portraits of the victims, all but one of whom were women, began to emerge. They included a first-time mother, a Pakistani security guard who had fled persecution, and a young fashion employee, according to statements from those who knew them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Police officials identified the attacker as 40-year-old Joel Cauchi, who had arrived in the Sydney area a month ago from Queensland, in the country\u2019s northeast.<\/p>\n
Why the man, who the police said had a history of mental illness, began terrorizing shoppers on Saturday afternoon, moving through the upper floors of the mall and stabbing people with a long knife, remained unclear.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is still to this point nothing we have received that would suggest this was driven by any particular motivation, ideology or otherwise,\u201d Anthony Cooke, the assistant police commissioner for New South Wales, the state that includes Sydney, said in a briefing on Sunday morning.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Mr. Cauchi had had a number of interactions with the police in Queensland because of his mental problems, the authorities said, but he had never been arrested.<\/p>\n
By Sunday evening, the police had identified only one victim, Jade Young, 47. But the family of another victim, Ashlee Good, confirmed in a statement that she and her young baby daughter were among those stabbed. The baby underwent hours of surgery on Saturday and was doing well, the family said, but Ms. Good did not survive.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are struggling to come to terms with what has occurred,\u201d Ms. Good\u2019s family said in a statement on Sunday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n