Australian police have arrested a 15-year-old boy on suspicion of being behind an attack at a church that injured several people in Sydney.
Two days after the fatal attack in a Sydney shopping center, the Australian city was once again hit by a knife attack. This Monday, April 15, a bishop was stabbed in The Good Shepherd Church chapel. A number of people rushed to help and subdue the attacker. The scene was filmed and broadcast live on the YouTube channel of an Assyrian church which was broadcasting its mass live. Alerted to a stabbing, Australian police quickly went to the western suburbs of the Australian city. She reported four injured men.
The victims suffered “non-life-threatening injuries”, the police also said, indicating that they had been treated by rescuers. According to the emergency services, the victims were aged between 20 and 70 years old. According to SkyNews, the stabbed clergyman is Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel who was preaching this Monday. He is part of the small Assyrian Christian community who fled the wars in Iraq and Syria.
Known to the police
The police provided initial information during a press conference regarding the suspect. According to Deputy Commissioner Andrew Holland, he is a 15-year-old boy, overpowered by the faithful when the police arrived. The boy was taken into custody before being taken to a hospital for treatment of serious hand injuries. According to the first elements of the investigation, the suspect did not regularly attend church, is known to the police and asked to speak to his parents. The attacker’s motives are, however, still unknown.
Another knife attack left six dead and several injured in Sydney on Saturday April 13. It was perpetrated in a shopping center by a 40-year-old man suffering from mental illness, with nothing to suggest a possible terrorist motive, according to Australian police.