File photo of New South Wales Police patrolling in Sydney (Photo by Kate Ausburn / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 4.0 DEED
Apr 17 2024
Australian police arrested a 15-year-old boy suspected of stabbing several people, including an Assyrian Church of the East bishop, at a Sydney church service, following a separate stabbing rampage that killed six in a city mall.
The latest knife attack in the Australian city of Sydney occurred during a religious service on Apr 15, injuring four people. This came two days after an earlier tragedy at a shopping center, attributed to a man with mental health issues.
The young suspect was treated for hand injuries and taken to a secure location amid an angry response from the congregation, according to Andrew Holland, a senior official with the New South Wales police. The injuries sustained by the four victims are not life-threatening.
During the service, a man dressed in black approached the altar, raised his right arm, and struck the priest with a knife, causing panic and screams among the congregation, some of who rushed to assist and subdue the assailant. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was presiding over the service when the attack took place, and suffered several blows to the head and body.
Emergency services reported treating four men, aged between 20 and 70, primarily for lacerations. “The injured parties are suffering from non-life-threatening wounds and were tended to on the scene before being transported to the hospital,” police stated. “A man has been arrested and is in custody,” they added.
Police received calls around 7:10 pm and urged the public to avoid the area. However, hundreds from the community attempted to approach the church soon after the incident to locate the assailant, but were stopped by police barricades.
Officers were injured by individuals throwing “bottles, bricks, and other objects,” said Holland. The suspect “was removed from the church and taken to an undisclosed direction,” as police requested the area be cleared.
The incident occurred at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley, a suburb in western Sydney. This parish is part of the Assyrian Church of the East, which has between 250,000 and 400,000 followers globally, primarily in the United States and India.
The Assyrian community, a part of the broader Christian groups from the East, identifies as descendants of the ancient Assyrian Empire in Mesopotamia, predating the advent of Christianity and, by extension, Islam. They are Nestorian Christians, a sect deemed heretical by the Council of Ephesus in 431 due to differing views on Christ’s dual nature, of being both fully divine and fully human. – La Croix International
