Joel Cauchi showed up to his parents’ Queensland home months before his deadly rampage but “no one answered” the door, according to a neighbour who also says he “didn’t mix” with other children while growing up.
“I think it was a couple of months ago, he was knocking on the door,” the woman, who did not want to be identified, told 7NEWS.
“I don’t know whether they weren’t home or — no one answered.
Newsletters: Breaking news as it happens. Subscribe now
“And then he just walked up the footpath and walked around this way.”
The weatherboard Queenslander-style house with a well-kept front garden on the quiet Toowoomba street provides no clues to what sparked 40-year-old Cauchi’s descent to mass murderer.
He was shot dead by a police officer after fatally stabbing six people at random in Sydney’s Bondi Junction Westfield shopping centre on Saturday.
Twelve more people were injured in the attack. Most of the victims were women.
Those who lost their lives have been identified as Ashlee Good, Dawn Singleton, Jade Young, Faraz Tahir, Pikria Darchia and Yixuan Cheng.
The neighbour described Cauchi’s parents as “nice”, saying she talked to them regularly.
But she indicated he was different to other kids on the street.
“I knew he was sort of — I don’t know, it was just that he sort of didn’t mix. I had four children here and there were kids all in the street,” the woman said.
“I’d say ‘hello’ to him when he’d walk past and he’d say ‘hello’ back.
“He never talked much but he’d say ‘hello’.”
Cauchi’s parents, who have declined to speak to media, said in a statement their son had “battled with mental health issues since he was a teenager”.
The family, who reached out to authorities after seeing footage of his rampage on TV, expressed their horror and devastation at his actions.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of the victims and those still undergoing treatment at this time,” their statement read.
“Joel’s actions were truly horrific, and we are still trying to comprehend what has happened. He has battled with mental health issues since he was a teenager.
“We are in contact with both the New South Wales Police Force and Queensland Police Service and have no issues with the Police Officer who shot our son as she was only doing her job to protect others and we hope she is coping alright.”
Police revealed Cauchi’s contact with his family was sporadic and he infrequently responded to loved ones’ text messages.
He lived in Brisbane for years before the attack and was regarded as “itinerant”, moving to Sydney in March where he lived in a car and hostels. He had also rented a small storage unit.
He had never been arrested in Queensland for any criminal offence.
But he had multiple interactions with Queensland police in the past five years, when they became “aware that this individual has suffered from mental health”, Assistant Commissioner Roger Lowe said.
His last interaction with police was in December on the Gold Coast, where he was spoken to by officers on the street.
“He is a person who has been identified as being known to the Queensland Police Service,” Lowe in Brisbane on Sunday.
“I can say the man has never been arrested by police in Queensland, nor has he been charged with any criminal offence.”
Cauchi had no record of being subject to a domestic violence order, despite most of his victims being women.
CCTV footage in the hours before the attack showed Cauchi, wearing a black backpack, ordering a meal from a Vietnamese restaurant on Oxford Street.
Cauchi had previously set up an online escort profile, which did not feature any explicit images, in which he described himself as an “athletic good looking 39-year-old guy”.
“Let me gently massage all of your body,” the now-deleted profile read.
Google reviews under the name Joel Cauchi suggest he also frequented a brothel and strip clubs across NSW and Queensland.
His now-deleted Facebook profile stated he grew up in Toowoomba and studied at Harristown State High School and the University of Southern Queensland.
In a post from his account to a Facebook group in December 2020, Cauchi was looking to meet up with “groups of people who shoot guns, including handguns”.
“Please send me a DM (direct message) if you can help me out! I live in Brisbane by the way,” he wrote.
Cauchi’s social media profile indicated he worked as an online English tutor and he notified another Facebook group of plans to go surfing at Bondi six days before the attack.
– with AAP