One dead, one wounded as ‘Allahu Akbar’-yelling man goes on Sydney stabbing spree

A man yelling “Allahu akbar” went on a stabbing spree in Sydney. One person has been reported dead. 

By World Israel News Staff and Associated Press

A knife-wielding man yelling “Allahu akbar,” or “God is great,” attempted to stab several people in Sydney in broad daylight on Tuesday afternoon before being restrained by members of the public, with one person taken to a hospital, police and witnesses said.

Witnesses said the man was carrying a 30-centimeter (12-inch) kitchen knife as he attempted to stab multiple people near a busy intersection in Australia’s largest city.

New South Wales state police said in a statement that a man was arrested and a woman was taken to a hospital in stable condition.

Australia’s 10 Daily reports that a second person was found dead a city block from where the injured woman was found at around 3:15 p.m. on Tuesday. Police are looking into whether the death is connected to the stabbing incident, the news site reports.

“A number of members of the public physically restrained the offender,” police Superintendent Gavin Wood said. “I want to acknowledge those members of the public who got involved. They were significantly brave people.”

Wood said it appeared that the attack was unprovoked and the man had acted alone.

A witness told reporters that the man was screaming comments about religion before yelling to police that he wanted to be shot. Police said he used the Arabic phrase “Allahu akbar.”

A witness, Paul O’Shaughnessy, said he and his brother Luke were working in the office of their recruitment company when they heard shouting through an open window. They looked out and saw a Caucasian man, aged around 25, screaming “extremist” words, O’Shaughnessy said.

The brothers, fearing the man was conducting a terrorist attack, ran down to the street and began chasing the man, who was covered in blood.

Luke O’Shaughnessy and another man caught up with the offender and tackled him to the ground, Paul O’Shaughnessy said.

The effort to seize the man was caught on video. At one point he leaps onto a car.  He is eventually pinned down with chairs and a milk crate.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison praised the citizens who stopped the stabber.

“Our thoughts are with all those who have been impacted by this violent attack,” he tweeted.

Paul O’Shaughnessy told The Associated Press that the man “didn’t show any remorse at all.”