Here's What We Know About the Sydney Stabbing Rampage

The man who allegedly went on a stabbing rampage around Sydney’s CBD yesterday, leaving one woman dead and another injured, has been identified as 20-year-old Mert Ney.

Police arrested the Marayong, western Sydney local yesterday afternoon after a number of bystanders pinned him down in the street with cafe chairs and milk crates. He had stabbed a woman in the back with a large butcher’s knife just moments earlier. Shortly thereafter, at about 4:30PM, another woman was found dead in an apartment building on Clarence Street.

It has since been confirmed that Ney has a history of mental health issues, and that he reportedly absconded from a mental health facility a few days before his violent attacks. He is expected to be charged with murder today.

“It is unclear when he will be deemed medically fit to speak with investigators,” New South Wales police said in a statement this morning. They also announced the establishment of Strike Force Lalchere to investigate the circumstances of the attack. Their inquiries will be supported by the Terrorism Investigation Squad.

Officers spent several hours raiding Ney's home in Marayong this morning, as detectives collected bags of evidence from the house, the ABC reports. He shared the house with his mother and sister, according to neighbours—one of whom reflected that "we thought he was a very quiet computer nerd, quite frankly. We had very little to do with him."

Authorities discovered a USB drive containing information about “other crimes of mass casualties and mass deaths around the world,” according to police commissioner Mick Fuller—including white supremacist attacks in the U.S. and the Christchurch mass shooting. Fuller noted that Ney did have “some ideologies in relation to terrorism, but he has no links to terrorism”, and clarified that yesterday’s rampage is not being treated as a terrorist attack.

Footage from the incident shows Ney running around the streets wielding a large blade—at one point jumping onto the bonnet of a car then leaping back down as it drives out from under him. “Shoot me,” he screams, “fucking shoot me in the fucking head, shoot me, I want to fucking die.”

An Uber driver told 2GB radio that a shirtless man, covered in blood, had jumped across the bonnet of his car and that he looked like he was “definitely on something.”

“He didn’t sound normal, [and] obviously he wasn’t acting normal.”

Three young men apprehended and detained Ney—trapping him under a chair and pinning his head against the road with a milk crate—before police finally arrested him. He is now under police guard at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.

The 41-year-old woman who Ney allegedly stabbed in the back was taken to Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital with a single knife wound to the shoulder. She remains there in a stable condition.

The woman whose body was found in a nearby apartment block was a 24-year-old who had suffered a laceration to the neck, and was pronounced dead at the scene. A source close to the investigation told the ABC the woman was a sex worker, and NSW Police confirmed this morning that “initial inquiries indicate the man had attended the unit for an appointment about 1.30PM and was captured on CCTV leaving the building about 1.50PM.”

NSW Police Superintendent Gavin Wood yesterday applauded the bravery of the bystanders who apprehended Ney, saying that “to approach a person with a mindset of obviously what this person [had], with clear evidence of a stabbing previously, these people are heroes."

“These members of the public, going about their day-to-day business, have jumped into a situation which was extremely dangerous and hostile and they have brought a person, who we will be alleging has stabbed an innocent person for no specific reason, into custody and allowed us to do our job," he added.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the attack was deeply concerning, and that his thoughts were with those affected.

“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 on Twitter.

Police are now appealing for witnesses to come forward—specifically seeking security surveillance, dash cam, and mobile phone footage.

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