Heroes have been praised for their actions during the Bondi shopping centre attack. Photo / Trilli MCap
Heroes have been praised for their actions during the Bondi shopping centre attack. Photo / Trilli MCap
Six heroes are being praised on social media after the “horrific attack” at a Bondi shopping centre that left six people dead and 12 injured.
The six who died have now been identified as Pikria Darchia, 55; Faraz Ahmed Tahir, 30; Jade Young, 47; Dawn Singleton, 25, thedaughter of a prominent businessman; Yixuan Cheng, 27, a student from China; and Ash Good, 38, whose 9-month-old daughter was also injured.
The attacker has been identified as 40-year-old Joel Cauchi, who had a history of mental health issues, was schizophrenic and had been working as a male escort before his rampage.
A heroic shopper who was videoed taking on the knifeman at the top of an escalator with a bollard during the stabbing has been identified by 7News as Damien Geurot.
Geurot told 7News he was going to the gym with his friend, French construction worker Silas Despreaux, when they heard someone screaming, “There’s a man stabbing people!”
“We just saw him coming . . . we were thinking, ‘We need to try and stop him’,” Geurot said of his attempt to fend off Cauchi with a bollard as the attacker came up an escalator.
Geurot said Cauchi had “empty eyes”.
“We tried to throw the bollard. We really wanted to stop him.”
Both Geurot and Despreaux have been widely praised by people who have seen the film footage and stills from the video.
X user @DeanRosario said: “That bloke with the bollard at the top of the escalator, confronting the attacker. That’s just heroic. That’s the very best of humanity confronting the very worst of humanity.”
Hero cop Amy Scott praised for bravery
The police officer who shot the attacker dead has been praised for confronting him on her own.
She has been identified as Inspector Amy Scott.
“She showed enormous courage and bravery,” New South Wales Police Commissioner Karen Webb said.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese paid special tribute to Scott and those who tried to stop Cauchi’s frenzied attack.
Police officer Amy Scott ended Joel Cauchi’s fatal attack inside the packed Westfield mall at Sydney’s Bondi Junction. Photo / News.com.au
Scott’s immediate actions were believed to have saved many lives.
Albanese praised her brave actions and called her a “hero”.
NSW Premier Chris Minns paid tribute to the nurses, doctors and ambulance staff for their extraordinary efforts to save lives, the members of the public for their “instinctive bravery” and Scott.
He said this was one of the “worst events the state had seen”.
He said the entire state owed Scott a debt of gratitude.
Mother’s last bid to save 9-month-old daughter
In her final moments, 38-year-old Ash Good protected her baby daughter by throwing her to another shopper in a bid to save the infant’s life.
Nine-month-oldHarriet was critically injured during the attack and was taken to Sydney Children’s Hospital to undergo surgery last night.
“The baby got stabbed. The mum got stabbed and the mum came over with the baby and threw it at me … it looked pretty bad”, a man told a 9 News reporter.
The North Melbourne Football Club wore black armbands in their Sunday afternoon game against Geelong in honour of Good.
She was the second of four children from former North Melbourne player and director Kerry Good.
North Melbourne president Sonja Hood said Kerry and his family had accepted the offer from the club to wear the armbands and honour his daughter’s memory during today’s match.
“Like all Australians, we were horrified to see the awful details coming out of Sydney on Saturday,” Hood said.
“To learn later that Ashlee and her daughter were victims in this tragedy really brings something like this close to home.”
Good’s friends described her as “the world’s best mum” and “a beautiful human” as they mourned her death.
Good’s family released a statement to Australian media, saying they were “reeling from the terrible loss” and thanking the two men who looked after her baby.
“Today we are reeling from the terrible loss of Ashlee, a beautiful mother, daughter, sister, partner, friend, all-round outstanding human and so much more.”
Bondi lifeguard springs into action
Andy Reid, a Bondi Beach lifeguard and star on reality TV series Bondi Rescue, told the Sydney Morning Herald “a bit of instinct and a bit of experience” prevailed when he learned people were stabbed during his shopping trip to Bondi Junction on Saturday.
Reid was reportedly shopping for a new bed when staff said there had been a stabbing.
