MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australian police are examining why a lone assailant who stabbed six people to death in a busy Sydney shopping mall and injured more than a dozen others targeted women while avoiding men, a police commissioner said on Monday. The killer's father blamed his son's frustration at not having a girlfriend.
Police shot and killed the homeless assailant, Joel Cauchi, during his knife attack in the Westfield Bondi Junction mall on Saturday near world-famous Bondi Beach.
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MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australian police are examining why a lone assailant who stabbed six people to death in a busy Sydney shopping mall and injured more than a dozen others targeted women while avoiding men, a police commissioner said on Monday. The killer's father blamed his son's frustration at not having a girlfriend.
In this undated photo provided by the family of Jade Young and distributed by the New South Wales Police Jade Young holds a dog at an unknown location. Young, 47, was killed in a deadly attack at a Sydney shopping center on Saturday, April 13, 2024. (Courtesy of Young Family/NSW Police via AP)
A girl and a woman place flowers as a tribute near a crime scene at Bondi Junction in Sydney, Monday, April 15, 2024, after several people were stabbed to death at a shopping on April 13. Australian police are examining why a lone assailant who stabbed several people to death in a busy Sydney shopping mall and injured more than a dozen others targeted women while avoiding men. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
A woman and a boy react after placing flowers as a tribute near the scene at Bondi Junction in Sydney, Monday, April 15, 2024, after several people were stabbed to death at a shopping. Australian police are examining why a lone assailant who stabbed multiple people to death in a busy Sydney shopping mall and injured more than a dozen others targeted women while avoiding men. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
People look as the Sydney Opera House is illuminated with a black ribbon Monday, April 15, 2024, as part of the national day of mourning following the stabbing deaths at a shopping mall in Sydney's East on Saturday. Australian police are examining why a lone assailant who stabbed multiple people to death in a busy Sydney shopping mall and injured more than a dozen others targeted women while avoiding men. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
A man places flowers as a tribute near a crime scene at Bondi Junction in Sydney, Monday, April 15, 2024, after several people were stabbed to death at a shopping on April 13. Australian police are examining why a lone assailant who stabbed several people to death in a busy Sydney shopping mall and injured more than a dozen others targeted women while avoiding men, a police commissioner said on Monday. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
A group of people react after placing flowers as a tribute near a crime scene at Bondi Junction in Sydney, Monday, April 15, 2024, after several people were stabbed to death at a shopping on April 13. Australian police are examining why a lone assailant who stabbed several people to death in a busy Sydney shopping mall and injured more than a dozen others targeted women while avoiding men. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Karen Webb, Police Commissioner of New South Wales state speaks to media at Bondi Junction in Sydney, Sunday, April 14, 2024, after several people were stabbed to death at a shopping center Saturday. Australian police are examining why a lone assailant who stabbed multiple people to death in a busy Sydney shopping mall and injured more than a dozen others targeted women while avoiding men, a police commissioner said on Monday. Webb said detectives would question Joel Cauchi's family in a bid to determine his motive. CCTV footage from the mall showed Cauchi targeted women. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
Police have ruled out terrorism and said the 40-year-old had a history of mental illness.
New South Wales state Police Commissioner Karen Webb said detectives would question Cauchi’s family in a bid to determine his motive. CCTV footage from the mall showed Cauchi targeted women with the 30 centimeter knife.
“The videos speak for themselves, don’t they? And that’s certainly a line of inquiry for us,” Webb said.
“It’s obvious to me, it’s obvious to detectives that that seems to be an area of interest: that the offender had focused on women and avoided the men,” Webb added.
The attacker's father, Andrew Cauchi, said he knew why his son, who suffered from schizophrenia, had targeted women.
“Because he wanted a girlfriend and he’s got no social skills and he was frustrated out of his brain,” the visibly distraught 76-year-old told reporters outside his home in Toowoomba in Queensland state, an 870-kilometer (540-mile) drive across the New South Wales border from Sydney.
“He’s my son, and I’m loving a monster. To you, he’s a monster. To me, he was a very sick boy. Believe me, he was a very sick boy,” the father added.
The only male killed was Faraz Tahir, a Pakistani refugee who worked at the mall as a security guard. Tahir had not been armed.
Webb said most of the 12 victims who survived their wounds were also women.
The evidence will be provided to a coroner to report on the circumstances of the deaths.
Webb expected the coroner would also address the question of whether security guards at the mall, which is one of Australia’s largest, should be armed.
The families of two victims based overseas had been advised of their deaths, police said. Those victims are Tahir, 30, from Pakistan, and Yixuan Cheng, 27, from China. Also killed were Jade Young, 47; Dawn Singleton, 25; Pikria Darchia, 55; and Ashlee Good, 38.
Eight victims who survived their injuries remained in hospitals on Monday, including Good’s 9-month-old daughter. The baby’s condition improved overnight Sunday from critical to serious, health authorities said.
The conditions of the other seven ranged from critical to stable.
Andrew Cauchi said his son had a “fascination with knives.” The father took five U.S. military combat knives from his son while they were both living in the Toowoomba family home last year for fear they would be used for violence.
The father said his son had become angry and called police, accusing the father of theft. The knives were given to a friend for safekeeping.
“I told the police my son had schizophrenia and I’m worried for myself,” Andrew Cauchi said.
“I said to my mate, ‘Why do I feel I’m going to be killed in my own house by my own son with a U.S. combat knife?’" he added.
The killer's mother, Michele Cauchi, said his rampage was the “absolute worst nightmare” of any parent of a mentally ill child.
Flags on government buildings around Australia flew at half-staff on Monday as a day of national mourning was declared to honor the victims. A black ribbon appeared on the sails of the Sydney Opera House on Monday night as part of a light display.
Police had given control of the seven-story crime scene back to the mall operators on Sunday night, but a decision has yet to be announced on when it will reopen for business.
The police officer who has been credited with saving many lives by shooting Cauchi dead, Insp. Amy Scott, will be interviewed by detectives on Tuesday.
In this undated photo provided by the New South Wales Police, Inspector Amy Scott poses for a photo at an unknown location in Australia. Scott fatally shot a man who stabbed and killed multiple people at a suburban Sydney shopping center, Saturday, April 13, 2024. (NSW Police via AP)
In this undated photo provided by the family of Jade Young and distributed by the New South Wales Police Jade Young holds a dog at an unknown location. Young, 47, was killed in a deadly attack at a Sydney shopping center on Saturday, April 13, 2024. (Courtesy of Young Family/NSW Police via AP)
A girl and a woman place flowers as a tribute near a crime scene at Bondi Junction in Sydney, Monday, April 15, 2024, after several people were stabbed to death at a shopping on April 13. Australian police are examining why a lone assailant who stabbed several people to death in a busy Sydney shopping mall and injured more than a dozen others targeted women while avoiding men. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
A woman and a boy react after placing flowers as a tribute near the scene at Bondi Junction in Sydney, Monday, April 15, 2024, after several people were stabbed to death at a shopping. Australian police are examining why a lone assailant who stabbed multiple people to death in a busy Sydney shopping mall and injured more than a dozen others targeted women while avoiding men. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
People look as the Sydney Opera House is illuminated with a black ribbon Monday, April 15, 2024, as part of the national day of mourning following the stabbing deaths at a shopping mall in Sydney's East on Saturday. Australian police are examining why a lone assailant who stabbed multiple people to death in a busy Sydney shopping mall and injured more than a dozen others targeted women while avoiding men. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
A man places flowers as a tribute near a crime scene at Bondi Junction in Sydney, Monday, April 15, 2024, after several people were stabbed to death at a shopping on April 13. Australian police are examining why a lone assailant who stabbed several people to death in a busy Sydney shopping mall and injured more than a dozen others targeted women while avoiding men, a police commissioner said on Monday. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
A group of people react after placing flowers as a tribute near a crime scene at Bondi Junction in Sydney, Monday, April 15, 2024, after several people were stabbed to death at a shopping on April 13. Australian police are examining why a lone assailant who stabbed several people to death in a busy Sydney shopping mall and injured more than a dozen others targeted women while avoiding men. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Karen Webb, Police Commissioner of New South Wales state speaks to media at Bondi Junction in Sydney, Sunday, April 14, 2024, after several people were stabbed to death at a shopping center Saturday. Australian police are examining why a lone assailant who stabbed multiple people to death in a busy Sydney shopping mall and injured more than a dozen others targeted women while avoiding men, a police commissioner said on Monday. Webb said detectives would question Joel Cauchi's family in a bid to determine his motive. CCTV footage from the mall showed Cauchi targeted women. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
NEW YORK (AP) — The pro-Palestinian demonstration that paralyzed Columbia University ended in dramatic fashion, with police carrying riot shields bursting into a building that protesters took over the previous night and making dozens of arrests. On the other side of the country, clashes broke out early Wednesday between dueling groups at the University of California, Los Angeles.
New York City officers entered Columbia's campus late Tuesday after the university requested help, according to a statement released by a spokesperson. A tent encampment on the school's grounds was cleared, along with Hamilton Hall where a stream of officers used a ladder to climb through a second-floor window.
Protesters calling on the Ivy League university to stop doing business with Israel or companies that support the war in Gaza seized the hall about 20 hours earlier.
“After the University learned overnight that Hamilton Hall had been occupied, vandalized, and blockaded, we were left with no choice,” the school said. “The decision to reach out to the NYPD was in response to the actions of the protesters, not the cause they are championing. We have made it clear that the life of campus cannot be endlessly interrupted by protesters who violate the rules and the law.”
Police spokesman Carlos Nieves said he had no immediate reports of any injuries. The arrests occurred after protesters shrugged off an earlier ultimatum to abandon the encampment Monday or be suspended and unfolded as other universities stepped up efforts to end demonstrations that were inspired by Columbia.
Fabien Lugo, a first-year accounting student who said he was not involved in the protests, said he opposed the university’s decision to call in police.
“This is too intense,” he said. “It feels like more of an escalation than a de-escalation.”
Meanwhile, violence broke out at UCLA overnight between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protesters, and police in riot gear arrived but did not immediately intervene.
People threw chairs and shoved and kicked one another. Some armed with sticks beat others. Before the riot police arrived, a group piled on one person who lay on the ground, kicking and beating them until others pulled them out of the scrum.
“Horrific acts of violence occurred at the encampment tonight and we immediately called law enforcement for mutual aid support,” Mary Osako, a senior UCLA official, told the campus newspaper the Daily Bruin.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass spoke to the university’s chancellor and said police would respond to the school’s request, according to a post on social media platform X from her spokesperson Zach Seidl.
The clashes took place just outside a tent encampment, where pro-Palestinian protesters erected barricades and plywood for protection — and counter-protesters tried to pull them down.
Security was tightened Tuesday at the campus after officials said there were “physical altercations” between factions of protesters.
Police have swept through other campuses across the U.S. over the last two weeks, leading to confrontations and more than 1,000 arrests. In rarer instances, university officials and protest leaders struck agreements to restrict the disruption to campus life and upcoming commencement ceremonies.
Just blocks away from Columbia, at The City College of New York, demonstrators were in a standoff with police outside the public college’s main gate. Video posted on social media by news reporters on the scene late Tuesday showed officers putting some people to the ground and shoving others as they cleared people from the street and sidewalks. Many detained protesters were driven away on city buses.
After police arrived, officers lowered a Palestinian flag atop the City College flagpole, balled it up and tossed it to the ground before raising an American flag.
Brown University, another member of the Ivy League, reached an agreement Tuesday with protesters on its Rhode Island campus. Demonstrators said they would close their encampment in exchange for administrators taking a vote to consider divestment from Israel in October. The compromise appeared to mark the first time a U.S. college has agreed to vote on divestment in the wake of the protests.
Columbia's police action happened on the 56th anniversary of a similar move to quash an occupation of Hamilton Hall by students protesting racism and the Vietnam War.
The police department earlier Tuesday said officers wouldn't enter the grounds without the college administration’s request or an imminent emergency. Now, law enforcement will be there through May 17, the end of the university's commencement events.
In a letter to senior NYPD officials, Columbia President Minouche Shafik said the administration made the request that police remove protesters from the occupied building and a nearby tent encampment “with the utmost regret.”
Shafik also referenced the idea, first put forward by New York City Mayor Eric Adams earlier in the day, that the group that occupied Hamilton was “led by individuals who are not affiliated with the university.”
Neither provided specific evidence to back up that contention, which was disputed by protest organizers and participants.
NYPD officials made similar claims about “outside agitators” during the huge, grassroots demonstrations against racial injustice that erupted across the city after the death of George Floyd in 2020. In some instances, top police officials falsely labeled peaceful marches organized by well-known neighborhood activists as the work of violent extremists.
Before officers arrived at Columbia, the White House condemned the standoffs there and at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, where protesters had occupied two buildings for more than a week until officers with batons intervened early Tuesday and arrested 25 people.
President Joe Biden believes students occupying an academic building is “absolutely the wrong approach,” said National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby.
Later, former President Donald Trump called into Sean Hannity’s show on Fox News Channel to comment on Columbia’s turmoil as live footage of police clearing Hamilton Hall aired. Trump praised the officers.
“But it should never have gotten to this,” he told Hannity.
The nationwide campus protests began at Columbia in response to Israel’s offensive in Gaza after Hamas launched a deadly attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7. Militants killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took roughly 250 hostages. Vowing to stamp out Hamas, Israel has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, according to the local health ministry.
As cease-fire negotiations appeared to gain steam, it wasn’t clear whether those talks would inspire an easing of protests.
Israel and its supporters have branded the university protests as antisemitic, while Israel’s critics say it uses those allegations to silence opposition. Although some protesters have been caught on camera making antisemitic remarks or violent threats, organizers of the protests, some of whom are Jewish, say it is a peaceful movement aimed at defending Palestinian rights and protesting the war.
On Columbia’s campus, protesters first set up a tent encampment almost two weeks ago. The school sent in police to clear the tents the following day, arresting more than 100 people, only for the students to return.
Negotiations between the protesters and the college came to a standstill in recent days, and the school set a deadline for the activists to abandon the tent encampment Monday afternoon or be suspended.
Instead, protesters defied the ultimatum and took over Hamilton Hall early Tuesday, carrying in furniture and metal barricades.
Ilana Lewkovitch, a self-described “leftist Zionist” student at Columbia, said it’s been hard to concentrate on school for weeks. Her exams have been disrupted with chants of “say it loud, say it clear, we want Zionists out of here.”
Lewkovitch, who is Jewish, said she wished the current pro-Palestinian protests were more open to people like her who criticize Israel’s war policies but believe there should be an Israeli state.
Dazio reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press journalists around the country contributed to this report, including Cedar Attanasio, Jonathan Mattise, Colleen Long, Karen Matthews, Jim Vertuno, Hannah Schoenbaum, Sarah Brumfield, Christopher Weber, Carolyn Thompson, Dave Collins, Makiya Seminera, Philip Marcelo and Corey Williams.
New York Police officers escort a protester outside the Columbia University campus, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julius Motal)
A person engages with a New York City police official as he, along with other officers, move to clear a main gate at Columbia University in New York on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, as authorities cleared parts of the campus of protesters after a building was taken over by activists earlier in the day. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
As light rain falls, New York City police officers take people into custody near the Columbia University campus in New York, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, after a building taken over by protesters earlier in the day was cleared, along with a tent encampment. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
New York City police officers take people into custody near the Columbia University campus in New York Tuesday, April 30, 2024, after a building taken over by protesters earlier in the day was cleared, along with a tent encampment. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
Using a tactical vehicle, New York City police enter an upper floor of Hamilton Hall on the Columbia University campus in New York Tuesday, April 30, 2024, after a building was taken over by protesters earlier Tuesday. Hundreds of police officers swept into Columbia University on Tuesday night to end a pro-Palestinian occupation of an administration building and sweep away a protest encampment, acting after the school’s president said there was no other way to ensure safety and restore order on campus.(AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
New York City police enter an upper floor of Hamilton Hall on the Columbia University campus using a tactical vehicle, in New York Tuesday, April 30, 2024, after a building was taken over by protesters earlier Tuesday. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
Using a tactical vehicle, New York City police enter an upper floor of Hamilton Hall on the Columbia University campus in New York Tuesday, April 30, 2024, after a building was taken over by protesters earlier Tuesday. Hundreds of police officers swept into Columbia University on Tuesday night to end a pro-Palestinian occupation of an administration building and sweep away a protest encampment, acting after the school’s president said there was no other way to ensure safety and restore order on campus. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
Pro-Palestinian protester Mercedes, a student at Southwestern University, raises a fist as she walks out of the Travis County Jail Tuesday April 30, 2024, a day after getting arrested at a protest at the University of Texas, in Austin, Texas. (Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via AP)
Students watch from their residence hall windows as members of the New York Police Department strategic response team move towards an entrance to Columbia University, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in New York. After entering the campus, a contingent of police officers approached Hamilton Hall, the administration building that student protesters began occupying in the morning. (AP Photo/Julius Motal)
Pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrate on the campus of DePaul University, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
Pro-Palestinian protesters settled into a portico of Millar Library on the Portland State University campus over the weekend, shown on Monday, April 29, 2024, in Portland, Ore. Permission was originally granted by President Ann Cudd, but the PSU president reversed course on Monday and saying it needs to come down because of health and safety hazards. (Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian via AP)
Pro-Palestinian protesters occupied Portland State University's library, advocating for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war, on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Portland, Ore. (Dave Killen/The Oregonian via AP)
A demonstrator pumps his fist as he hangs a sign from a window in Hamilton Hall inside the Columbia University campus, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
A group of pro-Palestinian protesters gathered at Portland State University in support of a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war, Monday, April 29, 2024, in Portland, Ore. (Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian via AP)
Student protesters camp near the entrance to Hamilton Hall on the campus of Columbia University, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in New York. Early Tuesday, dozens of protesters took over Hamilton Hall, locking arms and carrying furniture and metal barricades to the building. Columbia responded by restricting access to campus. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, Pool)
Members of the New York Police Department strategic response team escort protesters from Columbia University, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in New York. After entering the campus, a contingent of police officers approached Hamilton Hall, the administration building that student protesters began occupying in the morning. (AP Photo/Julius Motal)
Members of the New York Police Department strategic response team load arrested protesters from Columbia University onto a bus, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in New York. After entering the campus, a contingent of police officers approached Hamilton Hall, the administration building that student protesters began occupying in the morning. (AP Photo/Julius Motal)
Students with the Gaza solidarity encampment block the entrance of Hamilton Hall at Columbia University after taking over it on Tuesday, April 30, 2024 in New York. Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine called for mobilization close to midnight. (Marco Postigo Storel via AP)
Members of the New York Police Department strategic response team load arrested protesters from Columbia University onto a bus, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in New York. After entering the campus, a contingent of police officers approached Hamilton Hall, the administration building that student protesters began occupying in the morning. (AP Photo/Julius Motal)
Members of the New York Police Department strategic response team load arrested protesters from Columbia University onto a bus, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in New York. After entering the campus, a contingent of police officers approached Hamilton Hall, the administration building that student protesters began occupying in the morning. (AP Photo/Julius Motal)
A police bus loaded with protesters arrested at Columbia University departs an entrance to the campus on 114th Street, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in New York. After entering the campus, a contingent of police officers approached Hamilton Hall, the administration building that student protesters began occupying in the morning. (AP Photo/Julius Motal)
Police stand in front of a University of Utah sign as they move demonstrators who had gathered to show support for Palestinians off the property at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Monday, April 29, 2024. (Scott G Winterton/The Deseret News via AP)
A police bus loaded with protesters arrested at Columbia University departs an entrance to the campus on 114th Street, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in New York. After entering the campus, a contingent of police officers approached Hamilton Hall, the administration building that student protesters began occupying in the morning. (AP Photo/Julius Motal)
Members of the New York Police Department strategic response team move towards an entrance to Columbia University, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in New York. After entering the campus, a contingent of police officers approached Hamilton Hall, the administration building that student protesters began occupying in the morning. (AP Photo/Julius Motal)
Using a tactical vehicle, New York City police enter an upper floor of Hamilton Hall on the Columbia University campus in New York Tuesday, April 30, 2024, after a building was taken over by protesters earlier Tuesday. Hundreds of police officers swept into Columbia University on Tuesday night to end a pro-Palestinian occupation of an administration building and sweep away a protest encampment, acting after the school’s president said there was no other way to ensure safety and restore order on campus. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
Using a tactical vehicle, New York City police enter an upper floor of Hamilton Hall on the Columbia University campus in New York Tuesday, April 30, 2024, after a building was taken over by protesters earlier Tuesday. Hundreds of police officers swept into Columbia University on Tuesday night to end a pro-Palestinian occupation of an administration building and sweep away a protest encampment, acting after the school’s president said there was no other way to ensure safety and restore order on campus.(AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
