Four wounded in Sydney church stabbing, 15-year-old arrested

SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australian police said a 15-year-old boy had been detained over the stabbing of a bishop and a second clergyman at a church in Sydney during a live-steamed sermon Monday. the latest knife attack to rock the city.

The ambulance service told AFP that four men between 20 and 70 years old were being treated for "non-life threatening injuries," including lacerations. 

New South Wales acting assistant commissioner Andrew Holland said the suspect was being treated for wounds to his hand and had been taken to a secure location after the attack sparked community unrest.

Amid the panic and screams, several churchgoers rushed to safety while others tried to subdue the attacker.

"The injured individuals suffered non-life threatening injuries and were treated by New South Wales Ambulance paramedics before being conveyed to hospital," police added.

The incident came two days after a man with a knife killed six at a shopping mall in the east of Sydney.

AFP verified video of Monday's attack as being taken at the Christ the Good Shepherd Church in Sydney's western suburb of Wakeley.

The neighborhood is a hub for Sydney's small Christian Assyrian community, many of whom fled persecution and war in Iraq and Syria.

There were tense scenes outside the church after the attack, with hundreds of members of the local community trying to make their way past a phalanx of riot police to reach the suspect.

Projectiles

An AFP journalist at the scene saw projectiles being hurled, before police with riot shields and armor pushed the protesters away from the church.

"He has been removed from the church and taken to an undisclosed location," police said. 

They urged the public to avoid the area amid "a large police response."

The Christ the Good Shepherd Church holds a bible session every Monday evening.

Police said they began to receive emergency calls from the scene "about 7:10 p.m."

Australians are still reeling from Saturday's stabbing, which was carried out by a 40-year-old man with a history of mental illness.

In that attack, videos shared on social media showed unshaven itinerant Joel Cauchi pursuing mostly female victims as he rampaged through the vast, crowded Westfield shopping complex in Bondi Junction on Saturday afternoon.

A black ribbon was projected onto the Sydney Opera House on Monday as a mark of respect for the victims.

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By Agence France-Presse

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