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Terrifying details have emerged about the day Joel Cauchi killed six people in a horrific stabbing spree at Westfield Bondi Junction.
Cauchi, 40, stabbed five women and a man to death and injured 12 others with a 30cm hunting knife in Sydney’s eastern suburbs at 3.20pm on Saturday.
He was then shot dead by New South Wales Police Inspector Amy Scott, who has been hailed as a hero for ending the killing spree and giving CPR to the victims.
Authorities are struggling to determine the motive behind the mass killing that sent shockwaves across the country.
Below is a timeline of how the attack unfolded before Cauchi was fatally shot and his horrific stabbing spree came to an end.
Horrifying details have emerged about the day Joel Cauchi killed six people in a stabbing spree at the Westfield Bondi Junction shopping centre.
Seven people have died, including the attacker himself, after what has become the deadliest attack in Australia since the Port Arthur massacre in 1996.
before the attack
Cauchi was seen ordering a red curry chicken from Saigon Noodle, just a block from the mall, at 10 a.m.
He opened his wallet but did not pay and then told the worker serving him that he would return before leaving the restaurant.
The lone man returned at 12:21, ordered the same chicken curry and He spent 15 minutes eating his last meal.
He traveled to the inner southern suburbs, where he visited a small storage unit he had been renting.
From there he is believed to have taken a train back to Bondi Junction station.
Yixuan Cheng, Ashlee Good, Pikria Darchia, Jade Young, Dawn Singleton and Faraz Tahir (pictured)
Cauchi was seen ordering a red curry chicken from Saigon Noodle, just a block from the mall, at 10 a.m.
The attack
At 3:10 p.m., Cauchi entered Westfield but then left, only to return 20 minutes later wearing a Kangaroos jersey and carrying a dark backpack.
Cauchi then began his stabbing spree at Level 4.
He pulled a 30cm long knife from his bag and stabbed his first victims outside Sourdough Bakery.
Cauchi stabbed mother Ashlee Good, 38, to death while injuring her nine-month-old baby outside Cotton On.
The dying mother threw her injured baby into the arms of two strangers and selflessly begged them to help him.
Cauchi killed Dawn Singleton, 25, near Chanel. Mrs Singleton was the daughter of millionaire businessman John Singleton.
She was engaged to her high school sweetheart Ashley Wildey and had been shopping for makeup.
Cauchi then went down to Level 3 before attempting to return to Level 4.
Damien Guerot grabbed a retractable barrier and confronted killer Joel Cauchi, 40, as he advanced menacingly down an escalator (pictured).
Ryan Bramble (center) was shopping at Zara on Saturday with a friend when they heard the women’s bloodcurdling screams as Joel Cauchi, 40, began his attack.
He tried to go up a level via an escalator, but Frenchman Damien Guerot stopped him.
Guerot was going to the gym with his French compatriot Silas Despreaux when they were caught in the middle of the attack.
Guerot collected a retractable barrier with images that captured the act and earned him the nickname “bollard man.”
Cauchi managed to find another way to the mall and reached Level 5.
Terrifying footage showed a shopper stumbling as he tried to escape while a husband confronted the stabbing man in a bid to protect his family.
Four other buyers would lose their lives: architect Jade Young, 47, security guard Faraz Tahir, 30, Pikria Darchia, 55, and Chinese national Yixuan Cheng, 27.
It is understood that the parents took the children inside the clothing stores, which lowered the shutters to provide some security.
Moments later Inspector Amy Scott arrived and ran towards Cauchi yelling at him to “drop the knife”.
Ryan Bramble and a group of shoppers armed themselves with chairs and bollards before following the police officer to provide support.
Cauchi lunged at Inspector Scott and raised his knife before he was shot dead.
Inspector Scott attempted to perform CPR but the 40-year-old man died at the scene.
Emergency services could be seen carrying the bodies of the victims and their killer out of the shopping center in maroon bags on Sunday morning.
Inspector Amy Scott shot Cauchi dead after he lunged at her with a knife and she died at the scene.
after the attack
On Sunday morning emergency services could be seen carrying the bodies of the victims and their killer out of the shopping center in maroon bags.
New South Wales Police confirmed Cauchi was known to law enforcement and suffered from schizophrenia.
There is no suggestion that Cauchi was part of any particular ideology, and police treated the tragedy as a mental health incident.
Deputy Commissioner Anthony Cooke said Scott entered the scene alone while the attack was taking place before the rest of the force arrived.
‘She confronted the offender who had gone from this stage to level five. “As she kept walking quickly behind him to catch up to him,” Commissioner Cooke said.
He turned, looked at her, and raised a knife. “She fired a firearm and that person has already died.”
Cooke later said it was clear Cauchi intended to hurt as many people as possible.
“When he went downtown, he confronted about nine people, and it is clear that during that confrontation he caused harm to those people, we believe he stabbed them with a weapon that he was carrying,” he said.
Cooke later said it was clear that Cauchi (pictured) was aiming to harm as many people as possible.