Sydney bishop stabbed by teenager, 16,being treated as ‘terrorist act’
Fighting broke out outside the church following the arrest.
A stabbing at a Sydney church that wounded a bishop and worshippers and unfolded during a live-streamed mass is being treated as an act of terrorism.
A teenager, 16, was arrested yesterday evening after the attack at the Christ the Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley that wounded Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel.
The attack came just two days and only a couple dozen miles away from an unrelated deadly rampage at the Westfield Bondi Junction that left six dead.
New South Wales Police Commissioner Karen Webb said the suspect’s remarks hinted at a religious motivation for the attack.
Speaking at a news conference today, she did not specify what those comments were but said: ‘We believe there were elements satisfied in terms of religious motivated extremism.’
By striking while countless people were tuning into Mass online, the attacker had intimidated ‘not only the parishioners in attendance but those parishioners who were watching online’.
‘They’re lucky to be alive,’ Webb added.
The teen was known to police but was not on a terror list.
The suspect remains in hospital, police said at 2.35pm local time, after people restrained him at the scene and he was injured.
He has a lengthy criminal record, Australian Broadcasting Corp (ABC) reported, including possessing a knife.
In November, he was found in possession of a flick knife and charged with being armed with a weapon with intent to commit an indictable offence.
His case, however, was dismissed two months later for good behaviour.
Footage shows the moment a suspect walked up to the altar and attacked Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel as he was saying mass just after 7pm.
In the video, which Metro.co.uk has chosen not to publish in full because of how graphic it is, the knifeman can be seen stabbing his victim multiple times until the bishop falls to the ground.
Several worshippers were attacked by the knifeman. A man in his 50s, a man in his 30s, a man in his 20s, and a man in his 60s are among the victims – including a priest, Father Isaac Royel.
All four are being treated for lacerations, while the man in his 50s has been taken to Liverpool Hospital.
The suspect used a switchblade, an illegal weapon in Australia, according to ABC.
Officers were forced to hold the suspect at the church in Wakeley, a suburb about 18 miles west of downtown Sydney, Australia, for his safety after an angry crowd gathered outside and demanded the attacker be brought out.
A reported several hundred people for hours demanded he be brought out of the church, hurling bricks and concrete at police and emergency officials.
A metal object left one officer with a ‘twisted knee and a chipped tooth’ while a brick broke another’s jaw.
Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel is part of an ultraconservative sect of the Assyrian Orthodox church that formed out of what is now today’s Iraq and Iran.
He is known for his live-streamed sermons posted on TikTok that often touch on – and criticise – LGBTQ+ rights, Islamic beliefs, lockdowns and coronavirus vaccinations.
Fighting broke out outside the church not long after the attack despite the heavy police presence.
More than 100 police officers were ultimately called in to deal with the unrest as crowds gathered outside, and two were taken to hospital with injuries. At least two men were pepper sprayed during the clash.
State anti-terrorism police will investigate the stabbing under ‘Operation Kilchurn’ and will include federal investigators and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), the country’s answer to MI5.
Australia’s current national terrorism threat is ‘possible’, according to the government.
Police added: ‘Anyone with information about extremist activity or possible threats to the community should come forward, no matter how small or insignificant you may think the information may be.’
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