Sydney stabbing suspect arrested after woman found dead and another injured in CBD

Updated

Police have linked the murder of a woman to a stabbing rampage in central Sydney which left another woman in hospital.

Key points: Members of the public apprehended the man using a milk crate, chair and crowbar

Police confirmed a 21-year-old woman found dead in a unit block nearby was linked to the incident that shut down part of the city

Another woman has been taken to St Vincent's Hospital with a stab wound

The body of the 21-year-old woman was found in an apartment complex on Clarence Street, a short distance from where a man, identified as 21-year-old Mert Ney, was wielding a large butcher's knife and later restrained by bystanders.

Police said the incident — which they described as "terrifying carnage" — did not appear to be terror related, the suspect had no known terrorist links and he was acting on his own.

Officers are currently searching the suspect's home near Blacktown in Sydney's west.

The ABC understands the man escaped from a mental health facility and police confirmed he had a history of mental health problems.

The injured woman, a 41-year-old who police said was stabbed in the back in a "random attack", remains in a stable condition in Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital.

Reports of a man armed with a large knife on the streets of Sydney first emerged about 2:00pm, sparking a major police operation.

In what police described as "heroic" actions, passers-by and firefighters used chairs, a crowbar and a milk crate to apprehend the alleged offender, before he was arrested by authorities.

Police said the investigation was "live and ongoing".

"He was clearly dangerous and had motive," NSW Police Commissioner Michael Fuller said.

"But it is not currently classed as a terrorist incident, as the investigation continues we will reassess that."

However, Commissioner Fuller said a thumb drive linked to the alleged offender suggested he had "some ideologies" in relation to terrorism.

"[It was] information [on] mass deaths and mass casualties around the world, namely from North America and New Zealand," he said.

"He was known to police but his history was unremarkable."

'He is going to kill you'

Channel 7 cameraman Paul Walker, who was stuck in traffic in the area at 2:00pm and spotted the alleged offender running down the street, told the ABC the man was "covered in blood" carrying a large knife.

"He jumped on the roof of the car behind us," he said.

"Then suddenly these firies who were in a firetruck a couple of vehicles in front jumped out.

"They had axes in their hand and were yelling at him to stop, put his weapon down and he just ignored them."

The man then ran down a nearby street.

"Another person [on the street] was screaming at people to get out of the way, the fact he had a knife and the fact he is going to kill you," Walker said.

He said the alleged offender was then knocked to the ground by a member of the public who grabbed a chair and "whacked him".

"Seconds later he was just piled on by quite a few people."

When the man fell he dropped a knife into the gutter.

NSW Police Superintendent Gavin Wood said the man had tried to stab others.

"There has been, again, subsequent to that stabbing a number of attempted stabbings by the same offender," he said.

'These people are heroes'

Superintendent Wood lauded the actions of the bystanders who restrained the alleged offender and called them "heroes".

"They were brave and I can only use that word seriously — they were significantly brave people," he said.

"To approach a person with a mindset of obviously what this person did, with clear evidence of a stabbing previously, these people are heroes."

The man has been taken to Day Street Police Station.

A number of crime scenes have been established and a number of road closures are in place.

Topics: crime, police, sydney-2000

First posted </s> HEROES have fought off a knife-wielding attacker with a chair before pinning him to the ground with a milk crate after he allegedly stabbed a woman and ran through the streets of Sydney with a huge blade.

The suspect was filmed yelling "Allahu Akbar " and "shoot me in the f***ing face" as he ran through the Australian city with a bloody knife before brave witnesses - including three Brits - tackled him to the ground.

Dramatic footage showed one man bravely confronting the apparent knifeman with a chair after he jumped onto a car.

Witnesses, since praised for their bravery, then appeared to apprehend the suspect in chaotic scenes - pinning him down under the chair and putting a milk crate on his head.

Police say a 21-year-old woman was found dead in a separate crime scene and confirmed it was linked to today's rampage.

They said the 21-year-old suspect stabbed a 41-year-old woman in the back, and was rushed to hospital where she is now in stable condition.

He has been identified as Mert Nay by multiple media outlets, according to News.com.au.

Three Brits have since recounted the moment they ran to help pin the suspected knifeman to the ground.

Lee Cuthbert, Paul O'Shaughnessy and Luke O'Shaughnessy, all from Manchester, were working in the area when they heard the man attempting to stab several people outside, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

They told the Australian paper: "We had a window open to get some air in and then we just heard the commotion [...] we looked out and saw him on top of a car wielding a knife and we all just kind of reacted from there.

"We just tried to get down as quick as we could. You don't think, you just kind of react really, it was surreal, very, very surreal.

"We all kind of chased, worked together, but it was Luke who was the real hero. He pursued him the hardest and managed to get a grip of him."

Paul, a former Bury midfielder who moved to Australia in 2008 to play for North Sydney, added: "My brother Luke managed to keep him pinned down until the police arrived.

"My brother put a crate and a chair to keep him pinned down. He didn't show any remorse at all."

What we know so far
• A 21-year-old man has been arrested and is in custody - and is expected to be charged with homicide and serious assault
• A 21-year-old woman was found dead in a nearby flat and linked to today’s rampage
• A 41-year-old woman was stabbed in the back, in an apparent random attack and is in stable condition
• Three Brits heroically held the suspect down with a milk crate and chairs
• The suspect has no known terror links and is being described as lone actor

Terrifying photos show the suspect then being led away by police, with his grey jumper covered in blood.

A witness told 2GB Radio that he saw the terrifying incident unfold as the suspect jumped on cars.

The Uber driver said: "Next thing I see this guy jumping over the car, over the bonnet… he had a knife in his hand.

“He had a bit of blood on his shirt.

“There were police, people with their phone out, there were [firefighters] trying to contain him.”

First reports began emerging at around 2pm local time (5am BST) - with terrified passersby taking to social media.

A witness who chased the man could be heard saying: "Do you know how many people you just stabbed, you dog?"

"You just stabbed a chick, mate, in broad daylight."

One witness told the ABC he was walking towards Wynyard Park when a man came running around the corner "with a long knife".

The witness said: "[He was] about three or four metres away from me, and then came about five or six other men chasing him.

"They were armed with crowbars and one man had an axe and another man … I think had a firefighting implement.

"My immediate impression was that it was a scene from a crime show being shot, but then that quickly turned out not to be the case and the man ran down the road towards the cafe where patrons there must have tripped him up and they then put a milk crate over his head."

Police said during a press conference today that the 21-year-old man is involved in the stabbing and homicide.

They said the suspect had a history of mental health issues, but couldn't confirm local reports he had recently escaped from a mental health facility.

The suspect was arrested with white supremacy material on a thumb drive in his possession with files on massacre white-supremacist attacks in the US and New Zealand.

They said he had "ideological material" but no links to terrorism.

Police said today's rampage was not being treated as a terrorist attack but said at the moment he is considered a lone actor with mental health issues.

Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said: "It appears to be a random attack.

"Information was found on him that would suggest he had some ideologies in relation to terrorism but he has no links to terrorism.

"There was certainly information found on him about other crimes of mass casualties and mass deaths around the world.

"There is no current intelligence on this individual and he has no apparent links to other terrorist organisations."

However, they added it was "the infancy of the investigation" when asked if today's attack was terror related.

Police said: "I can say that he was known to police with but his history was unremarkable compared to the of gravity of the crimes he committed.

"I can say he does have a history of mental health, but at this stage, I can’t expand on that.

"No doubt in the coming days, the investigation will be looked closely at, not just the last couple of days, but certainly the last probably six months to 12 months.”

Police are investigating if mental health and/or drug issues were a factor but “at the end of the day it’s a horrendous crime and he should pay for that.”

The man is expected to be charged with the homicide of the young woman and face serious assault charges for the stabbing.

NSW Police Superintendent Gavin Wood said there had been "multiple" attempted stabbings in the attack.

He said: "There has been, again, subsequent to that stabbing a number of attempted stabbings by the same offender and bearing in mind we have multiple crime scenes, we are in the infancy stage of this investigation."

And he praised bystanders for rushing to restrain the alleged knifeman, saying: "They were brave and I can only use that word seriously — they were significantly brave people.

"To approach a person with a mindset of obviously what this person did, with clear evidence of a stabbing previously, these people are heroes."

New South Wales Police confirmed a man was in custody after allegedly stabbing a woman in the city centre.

A statement read: "About 2pm (Tuesday 13 August 2019), emergency services responded following reports a man was walking along York Street, Sydney, armed with a knife.

"As police made their way to the location, there were multiple reports the man had stabbed someone near the corner of King and Clarence Streets.

"Police and NSW Ambulance paramedics located a woman inside a hotel, who had a stab wound.

"She has been taken to hospital in a stable condition.

"A short time later, members of the public detained the man before police attended and arrested him."

The suspect has since been taken to Day Street Police Station.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said: "The violent attack that took place in Sydney this afternoon is deeply concerning. The attacker is now in police custody following the brave actions of those who were present at the scene and were able to able to restrain him.

"The motivation for this attack has not yet been determined as Police are continuing with their enquiries. Any further offical information will be provided by the New South Wales Police, who are keeping us appraised through our agencies, including details of casualties.

"Our thoughts are with all those who have been impacted by this violent attack."

A number of crime scenes have been established and a number of road closures are in place, which is believed to have significant impact on traffic and public transport.

Officers from Sydney City Police Area Command, and various specialist police, are conducting proactive patrols the area, but it is believed there is no further threat to public safety. </s> Australian police arrested a man who stabbed a woman and chased several others in central Sydney on Tuesday (Aug 13) before being pinned down by members of the public, police said.

The unidentified man had also tried unsuccessfully to stab other people, police said, in an incident that brought the central business district in Australia’s largest city to a standstill in the early afternoon.

"We have a female person with a stab wound to the back currently being treated by paramedics and is en route to a Sydney hospital," police Superintendent Gavin Wood told reporters in Sydney.

He said the woman’s injuries were not life-threatening.

Mr Wood also said the attack appeared to be unprovoked but police were keeping an open mind.

Police were also investigating whether the body of a woman found inside an apartment near where the stabbing took place was linked to the incident, a New South Wales state police spokeswoman said.

Video footage on Twitter showed a young man running across a city intersection and jumping onto the hood of a car, waving what appeared to be a knife.

The man fell to the ground when the car moved and was confronted by a person holding a chair, the video showed.

Other footage showed the man pinned to the ground by several people holding two chairs and a milk crate on top of him.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison praised those who stopped the assailant.

"The attacker is now in police custody following the brave actions of those who were present at the scene and were able to ... restrain him," he said.

Ms Megan Hayley said a man with a large kitchen knife chased several people though a busy office district and "five or six others were chasing him behind, trying to stop him, they caught him and restrained him" with chairs and a plastic crate.

Australia to bar return of citizens who fought for ISIS Images broadcast by Australian media showed the man jumping on the roof of a car brandishing a knife shouting "Allahu Akbar" and "shoot me". Police had earlier urged the public to avoid the area around King and Clarence Streets, in the central business district of Australia's largest city, where they were conducting an operation. A woman who answered the phone at a Subway store near the scene told Reuters: "We saw the person with a knife over there bleeding." "The cops are here and they blocked the road right now, so we can't go outside. They said: 'It's a crime scene, you can't come out'," said the woman, who declined to give her name. This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction. </s> A woman was taken to hospital after being stabbed in downtown Sydney on Tuesday in what appeared to be an unprovoked attack by a man who was restrained by members of the public and then taken into custody, police said.The unidentified man had also tried unsuccessfully to stab other people, police said, in an incident that brought the central business district in Australia’s largest city to a standstill in the early afternoon. “We have a female person with a stab wound to the back currently being treated by paramedics and is en route to a Sydney hospital,” Police Superintendent Gavin Wood told reporters in Sydney. He said the woman’s injuries were not life-threatening.

SEE ALSO :Australian counter-terror police make three arrests in Sydney

Wood also said the attack appeared to be unprovoked but police were keeping an open mind. Police were also investigating whether the body of a woman found inside an apartment near where the stabbing took place was linked to the incident, a New South Wales state police spokeswoman said. Video images on Twitter showed a young man running across a city intersection and jumping onto the hood of a car, waving what appeared to be a long-bladed knife. The man, who was yelling, fell to the ground when the car moved and was confronted by a person holding a chair, the video showed. It was unclear what the man was calling out. Other footage showed the man pinned to the ground by several people holding two chairs and a milk crate on top of him.

SEE ALSO :Australian police investigate report of armed man in downtown Sydney

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison praised those who stopped the assailant. “The attacker is now in police custody following the brave actions of those who were present at the scene and were able to ... restrain him,” Morrison said. A woman who answered the telephone at a Subway store near the scene told Reuters, “We saw the person with a knife over there bleeding. “The cops are here and they blocked the road right now, so we can’t go outside. They said, ‘It’s a crime scene, you can’t come out,’” said the woman, who declined to give her name. Police said the man was acting alone.

We are undertaking a survey to help us improve our content for you. This will only take 1 minute of your time, please give us your feedback by clicking HERE. All responses will be confidential. </s> SYDNEY (Reuters) - A woman was taken to hospital after she was stabbed in downtown Sydney in what appeared to be an unprovoked attack by a man who has been taken into custody, police said.

The unidentified man had also tried unsuccessfully to stab other people, police said, in an incident that brought the central business district in Australia’s largest city to a standstill in the early afternoon.

“We have a female person with a stab wound to the back currently being treated by paramedics and is en route to a Sydney hospital,” Police Superintendent Gavin Wood told reporters in Sydney.

He said the woman’s injuries were not life-threatening.

Wood also said the attack appeared to be unprovoked but police were keeping an open mind.

Video footage on Twitter showed a young man running across a city intersection and jumping onto the hood of a car, waving what appeared to be a knife.

The man fell to the ground when the car moved and was confronted by a person holding a chair, the video showed.

Other footage showed the man pinned to the ground by several people holding two chairs and a milk crate on top of him.

A woman who answered the phone at a Subway store near the scene told Reuters: “We saw the person with a knife over there bleeding.”

“The cops are here and they blocked the road right now, so we can’t go outside. They said: ‘It’s a crime scene, you can’t come out’,” said the woman, who declined to give her name.

Police said the man was acting alone. </s> Four people have been seriously injured in two separate attacks in the Austrian capital Vienna. At least one of the assailants, whose motives remain unknown, is still on the run.The first incident took place near the Austrian capital's famous Prater Park around 19:45 local time (18:45 GMT) when a man suddenlywith a folding knife in front of a Japanese restaurant on Praterstrasse. The three victims were a couple and their teenage daughter."A man attacked a family - a father, a mother and their 17-year-old daughter - with a knife. The three people were seriously injured and their lives are in danger," a police spokesman told Reuters.The assailant was shouting at his victims before stabbing them, witnesses to the attack recalled Silvia Franke told Austria's Kurier newspaper.After stabbing the Austrian family, the perpetrator immediately fled the scene of the crime, shouting at and threatening people along his way.Authorities deployed a number of ambulances and a Special Forces unit to track the suspect. Amid the ongoing operation and an active manhunt, another stabbing was reported nearby."Half an hour later there was another attack .... at Praterstern," the police spokesman said. "Here a person was also seriously injured and their life is in danger."While police continue to look into a possible connection between the two incidents,Police on Twitter confirmed the "arrest" of the second attacker, stating that a possible connection to an earlier attack is a "subject of the investigation.""We do not know to what extent there is a connection here and any motive remains unclear," the city's police spokesman noted.The search for the culprit of the first attack is in full swing. The manhunt, however, is complicated by the fact that police know "absolutely nothing" about the attacker. "We know we are looking for a man," police said. The motive for the attack is currently unknown. </s> Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Suspect detained after Darwin shooting

A gunman shot dead four people and injured another at five different locations in the northern Australian city of Darwin, officials said.

The 45-year-old suspect, who was known to the police, was arrested an hour after the first shots were reported at about 18:00 local time (08:30 GMT).

Police said they believed the man had acted alone. The crime scenes reportedly included a motel and a bar.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the shooting was not terror-related.

Mass shootings in Australia have been a rare occurrence since the country overhauled its gun laws in 1996, in the wake of a shooting in Tasmania that left 35 dead.

What do we know about the shooting?

The alleged gunman, who had been on parole since January, was wearing an electronic tag, Northern Territory Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw said.

"We're still trying to establish the intent and motivation behind this," he told journalists.

The gunman was reportedly carrying a pump action shotgun, and up to 20 gunshots were heard.

Image copyright EPA Image caption The city centre was on lockdown before police arrested the gunman

Eyewitnesses said the gunman entered the Palms Hotel in the suburb of Woolner and opened fire in a number of rooms before fleeing. One person was reportedly killed there while a woman was wounded.

"A man came running with a woman in his arms from next door which is the Palms Motel, which is the motel next to my motel, and he just dropped her on the footpath right in front of us," a witness, Leah Potter, told ABC News

"I ran and got some towels and wrapped up her legs, she had little holes all in her skin on both her legs and she was bleeding everywhere."

Another witness, John Rose, told ABC that he saw the gunman walk into the motel with a sawn-off shotgun.

"He shot up all the rooms and he went to every room looking for somebody and he shot them all up, then we saw him rush out, jump into his Toyota pick-up, and rush off," Mr Rose said.

The suspect then travelled to four other locations, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, including the Peter Macauley Center - a police operations base.

Another person was killed at Buff Club, another at Gardens Hill Crescent and another at Jolly Street, according to the newspaper.

What has the reaction been?

Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack said the authorities were waiting to hear more about the "circumstances surrounding this dreadful and tragic event".

Northern Territory Chief Minister Michael Gunner said: "[Today] has been a devastating day in the Northern Territory. Five crime scenes, four people deceased, one injured. This is not the Darwin we know."

On Twitter, Prime Minister Morrison described it as a "terrible act of violence".

Australia saw its worst mass shooting incident in more than 20 years last year when seven members of the same family died in a murder-suicide.

More recently, a man was killed and three others wounded in a shooting outside a popular nightclub in Melbourne in April.

Are you in the area? If it is safe to do, get in touch by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk

Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways: </s> GARDEN GROVE, Calif. -- A suspect is in custody after a violent rampage involving a series of deadly stabbings and robberies through Orange County, California Wednesday, police say.The violence left four people dead and two badly wounded. There were at least three armed robberies committed, as well.The stabbings appeared to have no obvious motive other than, in some instances armed robbery. The suspect was described as "pure evil" and "full of anger."The Garden Grove Police Department said it started when the suspect, a 33-year-old Garden Grove resident, robbed a bakery on Chapman Avenue in Garden Grove and took cash at knifepoint.He also apparently broke into an apartment of one of his neighbors in the complex where he lives. Those residents reported a break-in just after 4 p.m. Before police could respond to take a routine burglary report, a new report came in about an hour later of a homicide at the address, police said.That apartment complex is located in the 12000-block of Jentges Avenue. One person at the apartment was pronounced dead at the scene with stab wounds. A second person was transported with multiple stab wounds was taken to a hospital and later succumbed to his injuries, police said.Two more robberies occurred at local businesses in the area. One woman was stabbed at an insurance businesses in Garden Grove. She fought back against the attacker and is expected to survive.Police then responded to reports from a Chevron gas station on Harbor Boulevard. Police said a man was pumping gas when the suspect approached him. He suffered lacerations to his face, and his nose was almost sliced off, but he is expected to survive.The suspect then made his way over to nearby Santa Ana, where another person was fatally stabbed at a Subway parking lot on 1st Street.At a press conference Wednesday night, Garden Grove Lt. Carl Whitney said undercover officers located the suspect's vehicle, a silver Mercedes registered in his name, in the parking lot of a 7-Eleven on Harbor Boulevard and 1st Street, and called for backup.The suspect was arrested after he exited the store carrying a knife and a handgun. Whitney said the suspect stabbed a security guard inside the store and took his gun. That guard was rushed to the hospital but later died."These are all random acts of violence. Our suspect was not associated with any of our victims," said Whitney.Garden Grove and Santa Ana police were at one point investigating at least eight crime scenes in the area.Authorities had not determined a motive for the stabbing spree."We don't know. It's just pure hate that this guy did this," added Whitney.Garden Grove police were also investigating a separate stabbing that left a 62-year-old woman dead in her apartment . The victim's 28-year-old son is a person of interest in the case and it doesn't appear the cases are related. </s> A man shouting "Allahu Akbar" stabbed to death one person and wounded six others in a supermarket in the German city of Hamburg on Friday.

The attacker, who was born in the United Arab Emirates, was overpowered by passers-by and arrested.

Olaf Scholz, the mayor of Hamburg, said the attack had been motivated by "hate" and added that the suspected attacker was a failed asylum seeker whose deportation had been blocked because he lacked identity papers.

"I am outraged by the vicious attack that killed at least one Hamburger today," he said.

"It makes me especially angry that the perpetrator appears to be a person who claimed protection in Germany and then turned his hate against us."

Citing security sources, Berlin newspaper Der Tagesspiegel reported that the 26-year-old perpetrator was known to police as an Islamist. News agency DPA reported that security authorities were investigating evidence the man had Salafist ties.

The attacker stabbed to death a 50-year-old man believed to be a German citizen

Police said that he "struck out wildly" at others, wounding five more in the supermarket - a 50-year-old woman and four men aged 19, 56, 57 and 64.

Another 35-year-old man was hurt while overpowering the attacker in the street alongside other passers-by shortly after the killing.

All of the wounded were being treated or operated on in hospital, some of them for serious injuries, police said.

A police murder unit and a specialist politically-motivated crime squad are investigating the attack and were able to secure the suspected murder weapon.

German daily Bild published a picture of the attacker in the back of a police car with a white, blood-soaked bag over his head, and reported that he cried "Allahu Akbar" (God is Greatest) during the attack.

"Suddenly I saw a man smeared with blood running along the other side of the road with a knife," an eyewitness identified as Ralf W. told Bild. "He shouted out 'Allahu Akbar' as he was running."

A female witness standing in line at the supermarket till also told NTV rolling news channel that "as he was running out... he held up his arms and shouted 'Allahu Akbar'."

"I thought I was in a horror movie, I thought he would kill me," an unnamed woman who had been in the supermarket told rolling news channel NTV.

She said she feared she would die, as she was "queueing for the till and couldn't get away".

The suspect fled the supermarket after the attack. But "people were running after him with improvised weapons, chairs and sticks... they ran after him into a side street," Ralf W. told Bild. "People chased after the killer with chairs, they were throwing them at him," bakery worker Shaylin Roettmer told DPA. The witnesses slightly injured the attacker while they were overpowering him, before handing him over to police. Police cars outside the supermarket in Hamburg Police blocked off the lively and diverse high street dotted with cafes and shops in the northeast of the port city, Germany's second largest and host of the G20 summit of world leaders in early July. Anti-terror officers armed with automatic weapons patrolled the scene and onlookers gathered behind strips of red-and-white police tape. While the attacker's motives remain unknown, Germany has been on high alert about the threat of a jihadist attack, especially since last December's truck rampage through a Berlin Christmas market that killed 12 people. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the carnage in which a Tunisian rejected asylum seeker and ex-convict, Anis Amri, 24, ploughed the stolen truck through a crowd.
A man in Sydney, Australia, stabs and kills one person and wounds another. The motive of the suspect, who was arrested at the crime scene, is unknown.